Ripples: The Uchiha
by CreativeProcess
Summary: Like a stone thrown into a pond, one instant ripples throughout reality, leading to the beginning of a different path. In which Sasuke is more well adjusted, and Naruto is the one in need of rescuing from his demons--both figurative and literal.
1. The Stone

Ripples: The Uchiha

Prologue: The Stone

He should've been dead. For a shinobi, that's how a failed mission often ended. For a shinobi serving in the ANBU Black Ops, it was almost a certainty. And he had failed spectacularly.

A dark raven ponytail trailed out behind the young man as he sped through the forest. Black bangs brushed against the pale skin of his face, held out of his eyes by a black hitai-ite etched with the symbol of the leaf. His feet didn't even make a whisper of sound as he bounded from one tree branch to the next. Leaves tugged from branches at the speed of his passing fluttered to the ground; the only sign he had come this way.

For those pursuing him, he knew it would be more than enough. They had the same eyes as him, after all. Eyes that burned red and swirled with black tomes, taking in every detail of the forest around him with perfect clarity within the palest of moonlight allowed through the dense canopy. For a moment, those three black comma like marks in either eye swirled together with his irises and began to take on a new form. He couldn't see the change, naturally, but he could feel the new power of his eyes beginning to awaken. With an effort, he forced the surge of chakra to his eyes to lessen and they resolved into a normal sharingan once more. _'It seems I still don't have it completely under control,'_ he thought. Those eyes reminded him of what had lead him to this point in the first place. His teeth gritted together for a moment as he once again recalled his failure. _'It was a trap,'_ part of him wanted to say as way of excuse, but there was no excuse. He'd failed, and he was going to die for it. Whether by those he had sought to betray or by those who had assigned him the mission, his fate was sealed. He accepted that. _'But not yet.'_

Suddenly he dropped straight down to the forest floor, legs bending into a crouch to absorb the impact as he landed silently. Despite his stealth, there was a figure already stepping out of the shabby wooden shack in front of him.

"So, you've come to kill me." The figure said. Itachi rose, sharingan transforming in response.


	2. Graduation

Ch.1: Graduation

_Sasuke hit the ground hard. He tasted blood in his mouth, felt it running down his chin from a split lip. Head spinning, he glared up at the dual images of the three boys standing over him._

"_What a wimp," a brown haired boy snickered, leering down at him with dark eyes. A black haired one snorted, his own brown gaze refusing to look at Sasuke._

"_What do you expect from a traitor's brother?" he asked. They laughed._

"_Take it back," Sasuke whispered, climbing unsteadily to his feet._

"_Hmm? What was that?" the third boy said, leaning his spiky haired head closer and cupping his ear._

"_What you said about Itachi…TAKE IT BACK!" Sasuke hollered, charging forward. The other boy evaded his punch easily, a combination of Sasuke's own unsteadiness and the boy's foot sent him back to the ground. He landed on his hands and knees. A kick to his ribs sent him coughing to the ground._

"_Don't start something you can't finish, loser," the boy said._

"_You and your brother are a disgrace to the Uchiha name," another said, spitting. Sasuke felt the wad of moisture land on the side of his face._

"_Let's go; he's not worth our time." They began to walk away._

"_Take it…back," Sasuke said again, pushing himself up. The brown haired boy sighed._

"_Man, some people just don't know when to quit." He cracked his knuckles. "We won't hold back on you this time." Each heavy breath a pain in his side, Sasuke wiped blood and spit from his cheek, sliding into a shaky fighting stance. The three boys advanced._

_Suddenly a blur of orange and blonde barreled into the lead boy, knocking him to the ground. Sasuke stared along with the others as the two struggling boys rolled about on the ground. Finally, the newcomer got on top._

"_Hey, remember me?!" the blonde shouted, rearing back before driving his fist into the other boy's face. A crunch announced a possibly broken nose. Sasuke blinked as boy in the orange shorts rose. The other boy remained where he was on the ground. His companions seemed to remember themselves, then, and charged the wild haired boy._

"_What are you waiting for?!" the blonde cried over his shoulder as he ran to meet them._

_Sasuke gave a start, then charged forward with a strangled cry._

_When the skirmish ended, Sasuke found himself flat on his back in the dirt. His whole body ached, his flesh tender, muscles burning. He stared up at the setting sun and listened to the footsteps of his attackers as they stumbled away._

"_That's right; you better run," a weak voice said beside him. Sasuke groaned and turned his head. The blonde boy was struggling to push himself up out of the dirt._

"_What are you talking about?" he said, rolling over onto his side. "You lost." _'I_ lost_'_ he continued silently, shaking his head. The motion set the world to wavering for a moment._

"_Hehe," the boy laughed shakily. "You'll see. Once I become Hokage, I'll get those guys back for sure. They'll be sorry they ever messed with Uzumaki Naruto." He laughed again, quickly trailing into a groan as he finally sat back on his knees. Sasuke, halfway to his own knees, paused and stared at him, taking in the blonde hair, blue eyes and whisker like marks on either cheek. _'I've…seen him before,'_ he realized. On the playground, he was always the one sitting alone or getting into fights. _

"_Hey, you; what're ya lookin' at?!" the boy demanded, eyes narrowing as he stood. Sasuke started._

"_Nothing," he huffed, slowly climbing to his feet. "And the name's Sasuke."_

"_Sasuke, huh? What did those guys want with you anyways?" _

"_None of your business," Sasuke snapped, brushing himself off. "And I didn't need your help." Naruto got to his own feet._

"_Who was helping?!" he snapped back. "I just owed those guys a beat down from before, that's all." He crossed his arms over his chest, huffing as he turned._

"_Well….good then," Sasuke said._

"_Great. See ya around," Naruto shot back, walking off._

"_Whatever," Sasuke snorted, turning his own way. As he departed the playground, though, he couldn't help the small smile that tugged at his lips._

:

:

The sun was shining brightly down upon Konohagakure from a dazzling blue sky. Birds danced among the few wispy clouds that floated over the village, and children laughed as they played in the streets. In short, the perfect day; the type of day in which, naturally, something was bound to happen.

That something came as Uchiha Sasuke sat in class, elbows propped up on his desk, fingers laced at his chin and dark eyes focused on Umino Iruka as the chuunin instructor quizzed the class in preparation for the upcoming graduation exam.

"Who can tell me--" A sudden explosion ripped through the air, slightly muffled by the building but still disturbingly close. "Stay in your seats!" Iruka commanded as he hurried to the window, his short brown ponytail bobbing behind him. With several grumbles, students in various stages of rising settled back into their seats, though most just barely. The door to the classroom banged open and another man wearing the dark blue clothes and green flak jacket of a chuunin hurried in. Iruka met him half way, the instructor's face growing enraged in a way that Sasuke had come to associate with a certain blonde student. _'Naruto,'_ the dark haired boy thought with a sigh, eyes glancing at the vacated seat the blonde usually sat in.

"I have something to…take care of," the scar faced teacher said tightly, his jaw firm as his colleague finished. The two walked towards the doors. "No goofing off!" he yelled over his shoulder as he exited the classroom. As soon as the door shut behind him, everyone made a mad rush for the window. Sasuke shook his head as a nearby student tripped in his haste and tumbled down the descending rows of desks all the way to the floor. The Uchiha remained seated. It hadn't been the first time Naruto had disrupted class--not even the first time he had done it without actually being _in_ class--and Sasuke doubted it would be the last. What good did staring out of the window and talking about it do? Unfortunately, his reasoning didn't stop his classmates' voices from reaching his acute ears.

"What was that?" one of them wondered.

"Isn't that smoke coming from the Hokage monument?"

"I'll bet you it's that Naruto kid again," another one said. "Seriously, does he have to be loud _everywhere_ he goes?"

"He's just a hopeless idiot--but you have to admit, he's pretty …entertaining." Another student laughed.

"Got that right. Remember that time his shuriken almost hit a birds nest and the birds attacked him?" More laughter.

"Yeah; or the time he hit that one lady in the butt with a kunai?"

"Or how about the time he hit _himself_ in the butt with a kunai?"

'_For someone who's so disliked,'_ Sasuke mused, _'they sure talk about him a lot.'_

"Man, Naruto's such a pain, right Sasuke-kun?" a sweet voice said as somebody slipped into the seat next to him. _'_Annoyingly _sweet,'_ Sasuke amended silently as he glanced at the blonde haired girl out of the corner of his eye.

Yamanaka Ino sat much closer than usual, as always, with her torso twisted towards him. She went about stretching in exaggerated motions, thrusting her purple clad chest out at him. She smiled, blue eyes sparkling, and not for the first time Sasuke admitted that she might've been cute….had those eyes not reminded him of a puppy drooling over its food. "_I_ heard that he had to clean the academy bathrooms for a month after his last prank," she went on, scooting ever closer. "What do you think they'll do to him this time, Sasuke-kun?"

"Hn," Sasuke breathed out with a tiny shrug. She suddenly laughed.

"You know, I heard the funniest thing the other day," she paused, starring at him for a moment. "Anyways," she continued, undeterred in the slightest by his silence, "like I said, I heard the funniest thing the other day--a horrible rumor, really--that you actually used to be _friends_ with Naruto. Isn't that crazy?" She giggled, one hand lifting to her mouth in a way that Sasuke figured was supposed to be cute.

"As if you, the top ninja in our class, would ever be friends with someone as low as _Naruto_."

"Hn," Sasuke replied again.

"Well _I _think it's cute that Sasuke-kun would try to help such an obviously troubled boy," a voice broke in from the other side of him. Sasuke resisted the urge to groan as Haruno Sakura took the seat there, silently cursing the original occupants who were too busy chatting by the window to notice their seats had been taken over. Sakura sat just as close as Ino, if not closer, that same little smile on her face. She took her time brushing her long pink hair over her shoulder. His eyes automatically followed the motion, which she seemed to notice if the blush spreading across her creamy skin was any indication. Sasuke resisted the urge to groan once again. "Besides," Sakura said, scooting closer and leaning forward to glare at Ino, "It was probably all Naruto's fault--Sasuke's obviously so cool and Naruto's so lame that Naruto probably just latched onto him and Sasuke-kun was forced to be friendly--right, Sasuke-kun?" This last was directed to him with a bat of her eyelashes. _'I wonder if telling them Naruto and I _are_ friends would get them to leave me alone?'_ he thought.

"Well of_ course_ that's what happened. I bet Sasuke-kun's got all _kinds_ of sweetness to share, right Sasuke-kun?" Sasuke sighed inwardly. _'Probably not.'_

"I'm sure Sasuke-kun's just waiting for the right girl," Sakura said with an edge which made clear who she thought that was.

"Well I'm sure Sasuke-kun can easily see which girl is _best_," Ino countered with the same edge. They were leaning forward now, crowding Sasuke as they glared at each other. And then, to his horror, the other girls in the class seemed to notice what was going on.

"Hey, what do you two think you're doing?!" one of them exclaimed as they began to gather around, the scene from the window forgotten. Sasuke ground his teeth together, tensing slightly. A throbbing had begun just between his eyes.

As if summoned by his frustration, the door banged open and in walked an irate Iruka. The scar-faced chuunin held the end of a rope, which bound an orange clad Naruto behind him. Several students snickered at the sight. Sasuke didn't think he'd ever been so glad to see the blonde.

"Everyone, back to your seats!" Iruka snapped. The students--and most importantly, the girls surrounding him--began to retake their seats. The boy who had originally been sitting to Sasuke' left paused with a frown.

"Hey, that's my--" Twin glares from the two girls cut him off. The boy gulped and selected another seat. Ino and Sakura drew back a little, though, and Sasuke couldn't help letting out a sigh of relief. They alternated between glancing at him and blushing and glaring at each other. Sasuke could tolerate that, he supposed.

Once the class had retaken their seats and order had been restored, Iruka turned to Naruto, posting his fists on his hips.

"What do you have to say for yourself!" he demanded. Naruto just shrugged a shoulder. A vein appeared in Iruka's cheek. "You've already failed the graduation exam twice! This is no time for goofing off or trying to act cool! Another stunt like that and I'll kick you out of here myself!" Naruto was already in the middle of a yawn as the chuunin finished. Iruka tensed. Sasuke sighed and prepared to rise.

"That's it! We're having a retest on Henge no jutsu! Everyone lineup!" A chorus of groans answered the statement as the students descended the steps from their seats. Sasuke glanced at Naruto as the blonde took his place next to Sasuke in the line. Naruto met his gaze with a narrowed one of his own, face scrunched up in anger bordering on the verge of rage. He hadn't looked at Sasuke in any other way in quite some time.

"What're _you_ looking at, Uchiha," he spat out. Several of the girls in line made threatening gestures towards the boy. A few of them even growled. Sasuke just returned his gaze forward and shrugged.

"Nothing."

"Uchiha Sasuke!" Iruka finally called. Sasuke stepped forward, then turned to face the class. He took his hands out of his pockets as he gathered his chakra. He formed a mental image of Iruka in his mind, right down to the smallest detail he could manage.

"Henge no jutsu," he said, placing his hands together in the proper seal. A mist like substance burst around him--the byproduct of his expanding chakra mixing with the air as it was released. When it cleared, Iruka nodded in satisfaction. Sasuke couldn't see himself, of course, but he knew he had performed flawlessly. He released the jutsu with another burst of mist.

"Uzumaki Naruto!" Iruka called as Sasuke started back to the line. Naruto stepped out with another glare at Sasuke and took his spot in front of the class.

"Henge no Jutsu!" Naruto called out, face scrunched in concentration as he formed the hand seal. When the smoke cleared, Naruto had been replaced by a large red fox. It sat on it's haunches, tail flicking about behind him. There was something….menacing in those golden brown eyes ringed in black fur, Sasuke decided. He waited for the inevitable lecture about goofing around. When it didn't come, Sasuke stole a glance at Iruka and raised an eyebrow at the teacher's suddenly pale face. For just a moment, Sasuke thought he saw fear in the chuunin's brown eyes. But then the fox-Naruto disappeared in a cloud of smoke and the spell was broken.

"How was that, sensei?" he asked with a smug smile on his face.

"Next time, just do what I ask," Iruka growled out. To Sasuke, he still looked a bit pale. The rest of the tests went smoothly and then the bell rang.

"Finally!" Naruto exclaimed, making for the door. Iruka grabbed the back of his collar.

"And just where do you think you're going?! You're going to spend every waking moment helping to repair the damage!" Sasuke shook his head as he followed the class out.

"Come on, it was barely anything!"

"You tried to blow up the Fourth Hokage's nose!" Sasuke heard Iruka's strangled cry through the door. Sasuke shook his head.

:

:

'_Where did I go wrong?'_ Iruka mused as he sat atop the rock depiction of the fourth Hokage's head, hunched over with one elbow propped up on one of his crossed legs, chin resting in his hand. A frown creased his tanned face as his brown eyes followed the sloping path down the mountain and picked out Naruto as he struggled up with his burden. His eyes shifted upwards for a moment, taking in the setting sun, and he sighed. _'I should be home right now,'_ he thought sourly. He made no move to rise, though. As a teacher, his students were more than just faces in a classroom during the day. They were his charges; his responsibility. He felt that way about every one of them. Even Naruto. _'Or at least, I thought I did,'_ Iruka sighed again, his eyes returning to their original spot staring down from the Fourth's head. _'I tried my best not to treat him differently because of….that'_ he thought, gritting his teeth and pushing away the memories the thought conjured. _'The way he's been acting lately, though…I don't know, maybe I was too hard on him or didn't pay enough attention to him.'_ He knew for a fact that all of Naruto's previous academy instructors were guilty of at least one of those.

Naruto was approaching now, cresting the sloping path onto more level ground before continuing on to the Fourth's head.

"Why…do I…have to…do…this…" Naruto grunted out as he strained to pull a wagon of stones behind him. The boy was stripped from the waist up, his thin torso dripping with sweat. _'He looks a tad malnourished,'_ Iruka realized, _'but at least it looks like he's been keeping up with his physical conditioning.'_

"Because," he replied out loud, "the stone masons need this raw material to reshape the fourth's nose to the way it should be." He didn't bother telling the boy that the work would mostly be done with earth manipulating jutsu and would actually be quite easy for them.

"Stupid Hokage and their stupid faces," Naruto muttered as he began moving the thick slabs from the wagon into an ever growing group of stacks to Iruka's right.

"With talk like that, you might _never_ go home tonight," Iruka warned. Naruto snorted and glared up at him, sunlight reflecting off his green goggles.

"Like I care; there's no one waiting at home for me anyway." Iruka frowned as the boy went back to unloading the wagon. Something about that statement tugged at Iruka in a strange way. He frowned again, scratching at his cheek as he glanced upwards. The sky offered him no answer, though.

"Hey Naruto," he said at last.

"What _now_?!" the boy snapped. Iruka pushed on before the boy's tone could deter him.

"How about you bring up one last load and I'll treat you to some ramen." The boy gave a start and his eyes widened, a smile beginning to spread across his face. That smile slipped away quickly, though, and his eyes narrowed towards Iruka.

"Seriously?" he asked. Iruka blinked.

"Of course. Why else would I have said that?"

"To trick me," Naruto replied. Iruka raised an eyebrow.

"Into what? Eating ramen?"

"Maybe you're just trying to get me to go with you and then you'll skip out on the check and make me pay for it all," Naruto said. Iruka rolled his eyes.

"If I was going to do that, I'd pick something a lot better than ramen. Besides, I'm a chuunin--I think I can afford my own ramen." Naruto continued staring at him for a long moment, then jerked his head up and down stiffly.

"All right," he said. _'Not exactly the enthusiastic response I was hoping for,'_ Iruka thought as Naruto took the wagon handles in hand and started back down the mountain path. Still, there seemed to be a spring in the blonde boy's steps as he hurried away.

The moon rested high in a dark sky by the time Naruto finished. As the two made their way through lantern lit streets, Iruka could tell the boy didn't seem quite as exhausted as Iruka had thought he'd be. In fact, the boy seemed to be bursting with new energy as they approached the Ichiraku ramen bar. Not that he was all that talkative, which Iruka thought strange. There had been a time when he hadn't been _able_ to get Naruto to be quiet. Recently, though…..Iruka found himself frowning at Naruto. He'd been doing that a lot lately, he realized. Naruto noticed him looking and glared up at him.

"What?!" Iruka just shook his head.

"Nothing," he replied, ducking under the flaps which hung from Ichiraku's entrance to provide some modicum of privacy for its patrons.

"Hey, Naruto!" the old man--Teuchi, by the name tag clipped to his white apron-- behind the counter exclaimed, a wide grin spreading across a hard faced lined with age. "I was wondering when you'd be by again. It's been awhile." Naruto paused mid-step, his face suddenly a mask of conflicting emotions.

"Ah, yeah I've…I've been busy," he replied hesitantly. The old man's smile faltered for a brief moment, then returned full force as he shrugged.

"Ah, don't worry about it; I'm sure training to be a ninja is tough work. What can I getcha?"

"I'll take some beef, with --"

"With an extra egg," the man finished for him. Naruto stiffened in his seat.

"What, you'd think I'd forget what my favorite customer likes? It hasn't been _that_ long," Teuchi said, turning to Iruka as the chuunin took his own stool. "And what can I get for you?"

"A bowl of miso, please," Iruka said, pulling his puzzled gaze away from Naruto. "And put ours on the same bill; I'm paying." Teuchi's gray brow shot up nearly to the whit hate covering the majority of his gray hair.

"Really?" he asked. Iruka frowned at the reaction.

"Yeah," he said. Teuchi just shook his head and chuckled, turning to the stove behind him. Iruka thought he heard him say "sucker" as he did so. _'Must be imagining things,'_ Iruka thought with a shake of his head.

Naruto sat stiff as a board until their food was ready, then picked up his chopsticks and dug into the steaming bowl without a word. Iruka ate more slowly, watching Naruto out of the corner of his eye. When the blonde paused after a particularly large gulp to catch his breath, Iruka asked,

"Why'd you do that?" Naruto turned to him and blinked. "The Hokage monument," Iruka clarified. "Why'd you do that? Don't you know who the Hokage were? Don't you know what the Fourth _did_ for this village? He--" Iruka broke off with a start as Naruto's chopsticks snapped in his white-knuckled grasp.

"Yeah, I know," the boy said softly, eyes taking on a far away look. Then he shook his head and selected another pair of chopsticks. Iruka opened his mouth to say more, then closed it and turned back to his own bowl as the blonde attacked his with renewed vigor.

They finished eating in silence. Naruto excused himself shortly after, pausing only long enough to say,

"Thanks for the food." As Iruka watched him walk away, a sinking feeling settled into the pit of his stomach.

"In all my time here," Teuchi's said as he handed Iruka the bill, "I've never had Naruto leave without at least having seconds."

After paying for the meals, Iruka started down the street. He didn't pay much attention to anything as he walked, hands in the pockets of his dark blue pants and head bent forward. Finally he stopped, chewing on his lower lip as he glanced toward the path which would lead him home. Then he turned and started toward the Hokage's tower.

:

:

Naruto let out an exhausted sigh as he turned his key in the door of his apartment. _'Those stones were really, really heavy,' _he thought as he stepped inside, flicking on the lights. He flicked his sandals off, which bounced haphazardly upon the faded blue rug which read _Welcome Home_. Or, at least, that's what it _should_ have said; the white stitching had become so frayed that Naruto couldn't make out the words. Shoulders sagging, he trudged past the peeling wall paper and wooden table in his kitchen, the latter held level by a tattered book stuffed under its short leg. He sidestepped a rather rough spot on his hard wood floors which could--and had--produce splinters and past the thinly cushioned couch which was missing an armrest in his living room. Another switch turned the lights back off, and he slipped into his bedroom, stripping as he stumbled towards his bed. His jacket landed in an orange heap on his floor, followed by a dark blue t shirt, before he fell face first onto his bed, wincing as felt a spring jab him in the stomach through the thin mattress. He let out a heavy breath into his lumpy pillow before adjusting his head so he could breathe. His eyes fell closed immediately.

A moment later, he shifted onto his side, arms coming up towards his pillow. After a few more minutes, he shifted onto his back, then his other side, then his stomach again. After another moment he climbed beneath the covers.

In the end, Naruto wound up on his back, hands resting behind his head as he stared up at the ceiling. Moonlight drifted in through a tear in the drapes covering his bedside window, bathing the room in pale blue. Once, he had been able to sleep any time, anywhere, no matter what kind of day he'd had or what thoughts ran about his mind. The hard part was getting him _not_ to sleep, really. He couldn't count how many times he'd been late to class for sleeping in, or the times Iruka had yelled at him for sleeping in class.

'_Speaking of Iruka,'_ Naruto thought, frowning, _'What was _that_ all about?'_ He hadn't really been surprised by the punishment--he'd kind of expected it--but the ramen had certainly been a switch. _'It's almost like he was…like he…."_

"Argh!" Naruto growled, pulling his hands from behind his head to scrub at his face. "What do I care what he was trying to do?! I don't need him; I don't need anyone!" He tugged the covers up to his neck and shifted onto his side. _'Sleep, damn it!'_ he commanded himself as he closed his eyes. He could feel it now, the familiar tension tightening his chest, the way his skin tingled slightly with a cold which seemed to grip his insides, making him feel numb; the moisture collecting in his eyes. "I. Will. Not. Cry,'" he hissed from behind gritted teeth. _'I will not cry; I will not cry…'_ Over and over again; a mantra he should've been done with long ago. Just before he crossed over into the realm of dreams, his mantra faltered and gave way to one final thought: _'I'm still too weak.' _

:

:

It was finally happening. Today was the day when all the waiting and preparation paid off. The day he left behind the shackles of mediocrity and grasped the dreams he'd sought after for so long. He could barely contain himself as he stepped into the academy. A smile kept tugging at the corners of his lips with every step towards the classroom; it took an effort to keep his hands from shaking with excitement. _'After today, I can move on from this place. No more teaching, no more brats. After today--'_

"Mizuki-sensei." The chuunin froze, slowly turning to find Iruka frowning at him from a doorway. "Where are you going?" With a start, Mizuki realized he'd completely walked passed the classroom.

"Sorry, Iruka-sensei," he said, brushing pale blue hair out of his dark green eyes as he ducked his head and smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, Iruka-sensei. I guess I'm just excited too excited to see our students graduate." Iruka nodded, frown vanishing.

"I know how you feel, but don't get ahead of yourself. They haven't graduated yet," the other teacher said, stepping back into the classroom. Mizuki let out a small sigh. _'Just a little longer,'_ he told himself, schooling his features. He smiled at the children as he entered the room and stood behind and to the right of Iruka.

"…you'll be doing Bunshin no Jutsu. When your name is called, come to the next room." Iruka was explaining. Mizuki let his dark green eyes shift carefully over the class until he spotted Naruto. A smile--a _real_ smile--once again threatened to spread across his face.

"Mizuki-sensei," Iruka said, handing him the clipboard.

"Right," he said, stepping forward. Iruka walked towards the adjoining testing room. "As Iruka-sensei said, when you hear your name called you'll come to the next room. I'll be assisting Iruka-sensei in the grading. Kuziko-san," Mizuki said, motioning to another chuunin standing by the door Iruka had entered, "Will tell you when it's your turn. I'll take the first with me now." He glanced down at the class roster he held. "Aburame Shino, come with me." The boy in question rose, hand in the pockets of his gray jacket, it's high collar and sunglasses hiding nearly everything save spiky dark brown hair.

Mizuki led him into the testing room, handing the roster off to Kuziko. He closed the door behind them before taking a seat to the left of Iruka behind a long table at the other end of the room. To Iruka's right rested a collection of brand new dark blue bandana's sporting a rectangle of metal etched with the leaf symbol.

"All right, Shino, create at least three copies of yourself," Iruka said. The boy gave a slight nod, drawing his hands out of his pockets. With the middle and ring fingers of his left pointing straight up and his other fingers curled around the same fingers of the other hand pressing against his palm, he said "Bunshin no jutsu." a small, thin cloud of smoke erupted around him, clearing to reveal three copies of himself. Iruka glanced at Mizuki, who gave a shrug.

"Perfect. Congratulations; you pass!" Iruka said with a broad smile as the copies disappeared. What little Mizuki could see of Shino's face--namely, his eyebrows--remained impassive as he stepped forward to receive his hitai-ite.

"Akimichi Chouji!" Kuziko called out once Shino stepped back into the classroom. "And no food in the testing room!" Mizuki shook his head a little as they waited. Chouji stepped in soon after.

"All right Chouji," Iruka said once Kuziko had closed the door, "create at least three copies of yourself."

"Right!" The chubby boy exclaimed, planting his feet shoulder width apart. His form seemed to widen even more as he hunched over, clasping his hands together in the proper seal. His face seemed to swallow up his dark, beady eyes as it scrunched up in concentration. Mizuki waited, already bored, as the boy built up his chakra. "Bunshin no jutsu!" A great cloud of smoke enveloped him, clearing to reveal three somewhat identical copies. They dissipated soon after.

"The coloring is a bit off, and he didn't hold the jutsu for very long," Iruka murmured to Mizuki, who knew exactly what he wanted to hear.

"True, but they're not _that_ far off. And he's certainly enthusiastic. He's bound to keep improving," Mizuki replied. Iruka nodded his agreement. _'Ah Iruka, you're so easy,' _Mizuki thought as his fellow instructor straightened.

"Great work, Chouji!" Iruka said, raising his voice. "Congratulations!" The boy's grin made his cheeks look even plumper as he reached back and rubbed at his neck, stepping forward.

The rest of the tests went fairly similar. Mizuki found himself drifting in and out of focus, comfortable enough with his persona of "Mizuki the kind and encouraging instructor"--which he had spent several years cultivating--that he answered any question Iruka posed to him almost automatically. He, like the questions, was really just a formality anyway. The graduation form had to be signed by two licensed instructors, though clearly Iruka could've done it by himself. _'Seriously though, he doesn't keep having to go out of his way to make me feel involved.'_ How Iruka managed to stay so enthusiastic through all the tests was beyond him.

He really only started paying attention when Uchiha Sasuke's name was called. Not for the boy himself, of course. He knew _that_ boy would pass with flying colors, probably upstaging everyone else. _'I wouldn't be surprised if his entire clan came out to celebrate with him,'_ Mizuki thought. Sasuke didn't disappoint, even creating two more replications than was needed. Still, Mizuki found himself on the edge of his seat not as the boy performed, but as he left. And then Uzumaki Naruto walked through the door.

'_This is it,'_ he thought. _'This is where all those…creatively graded tests pay off.'_ He paused for a moment, eyes narrowing slightly at Naruto as the blonde took his place before the desk. _'Do you have any idea how difficult it was for me to get you to this point?'_ That slight stab of remembered frustration passed quickly, though, as he rehearsed what he was going to say to Iruka. _'Remember to be sympathetic; it'll make Naruto more inclined to listen lat--_'

"Congratulations, Naruto! You pass!" Mizuki's head whipped around, eyes widening as he saw three identical Narutos disappear into smoke. A part of his brain told him that his mouth was hanging open, but at that moment he didn't really care. _'What the…'_ he thought slowly, glancing to the side where Iruka was saying something to Naruto while they held the boy's hitai-ite between them. All Mizuki could hear was the rush of blood as his hands tightened into fists beneath the table. Only his instincts kept his mouth from twisting into a sneer and a flash of killing intent out of his eyes.  
Iruka let go of the hitai-ite and Naruto stepped back, a weird expression on his face. Iruka turned to Mizuki.

"Well, Mizuki? Don't you want to congratulate him?" Mizuki smiled automatically.

"Of course. Well done, Naruto-san. I'm sure you'll make a great shinobi." The words sounded like they were coming from someone else's mouth while inside he screamed, watching his dreams shatter.

:

:

"_I'm proud of you, Naruto. You've worked hard for this; never let anyone make you believe that you haven't earned it. Ever."_ Naruto found himself humming loudly, a pleased smile painted on his face as he bounced along the halls of the academy for the first time as a shinobi. He cut off the jovial tune abruptly, narrowing his eyes into a glare, baring his teeth in a scowl. A few kind words weren't enough, not after all this time. Not after all the fights that hadn't been his fault; all the punishments that he had gotten stuck with because of them anyways. Not after the teachers ignored him, or purposely asked him a question they _knew _he couldn't answer. Not after the wa--He was humming again. With a growl he paused and wiped the smile off his face, then continued on. A moment later and his hum had begun once again in his chest, lips twitching in a smile. _"Proud of you…"_ Iruka's voice bounced around in his head. His feet seemed to spring with every step, back straightening and chest swelling. He pushed through the red door of the academy.

Slowly, the smile slipped from his face, hum trailing off into nothingness. His gaze swept across the celebrations going on before him in pockets strewn about the lawn in front of the academy; the happy children, the proud parents.

"That's my boy!" he heard someone nearby say, slapping one of Naruto's classmates on the shoulder. The boy just scratched at the back of his head and grinned stupidly at his father. Elsewhere, a mother hugged her protesting son. "Aww, look how cute you are with your new headband! Tonight, I'm making your favorite dinner!"

"Mom, you're embarrassing me! And it's a _hitai-ite_, _not_ a head band," the boy replied, though he made no move to escape. Another man clapped a hand on his son's shoulder.

"Today, you have truly become a man," he said. The boy looked almost on the verge of tears. Other graduates had gathered in groups laughing and slapping each other on the back.

"Next stop, chuunin!" one of them declared, thrusting a fist into the air. His friends picked up the cry as their fists joined his.

Naruto's chest grew tight, accompanied by that odd half-numbness which seemed to chew at his insides. He didn't even notice the stares until the whispers reached his ears.

"….believe they let _him_ pass?"

"….locked up in a cage, that--"

"…..rn't supposed…about that …" Naruto glared at the two older women--mothers, by the civilian garb they sported and the newly graduated shinobi they stood next to. They glared right back, their eyes throwing daggers of ice.

"Come on, mom. You promised we'd go out to eat," on of the graduates whined. The dark haired woman turned to him.

"Very well. The atmosphere here has suddenly grown stale," she answered as she led her son away. Her companion soon followed suite. Naruto set his jaw and stepped forward, making his way through the crowd. There were others now, assaulting him with their eyes and inching away from him even as they smiled and praised their children. Naruto returned their glares, hands clenching into fists.

"Surely you will restore our family's honor," he heard a voice to his right say. His eyes drifted towards the voice and found Sasuke standing before a man and woman who Naruto assumed were his parents, far removed from any of the other celebrating groups. The dark haired graduate just grunted and looked to the side--straight at Naruto. For a second, onyx orbs met blue. Naruto stiffened, jerking his gaze away and gritting his teeth. There was no humming as he marched away from the academy grounds.

:

:

"ARGH!" A chair crashed against the wall, rattling picture frames until they fell and hit the floor, glass covers cracking. Another crash; a table being overturned, throwing a cup into the air which bounced and rolled along the dark blue carpet. A lamp shattered as it hit another wall, spraying glass about the apartment. The apartment Mizuki had so painstakingly crafted to project the image he wanted. Now it was all for nothing. With another cry, Mizuki whirled, huffing behind clenched teeth, hands flexing as his narrowed gaze glared at nothing. _'How?!'_ he seethed. _'I've seen him do Bunshin before; he was horrible!' _He began replaying every moment he had ever spent around Naruto in his mind; every written exam, every skill test.

"Stupid brat; you ruined everything!" Mizuki growled out, grasping at his pale locks and tugging until they felt like they would rip free of his skull. His breathing became easier as he straightened. He stood there for several moments, eyes closed as his anger dissipated. Then he laughed. "Why am I saying?" he continued, releasing his hair and smoothing down the shoulder length strands. "Naruto may have been the most obvious opportunity, but there are still others. I just need to come up with a new plan, that's all." He nodded to himself, tension draining from his body with a heavy sigh, a smile tugging at his lips. He took a step forward, then blinked down at the remains of his coffee table that crunched beneath his foot. His gaze rose and he glanced around the rest of his apartment, running one hand through his hair. _'At least I don't have any neighbors.'_


	3. Registration

Ch. 2: Registration

_Sasuke awoke to find his brother standing over his bed. _

"_Itachi?" the boy asked, sitting up and rubbing at his eyes. His brother remained silent, swathed in shadows just at the edge of Sasuke's vision. The boy squinted his eyes, frowning as he realized Itachi was clad in his ANBU garb, save the white porcelain animal mask. The glaring red numbers of Sasuke's alarm clock soon proved much more interesting to the boy, though._

"_Itachi, why'd you wake me up? I have classe--" Sasuke ducked back, wincing reflexively as Itachi's hand suddenly shot toward him. The flick he was accustomed to never came. Instead, his brother's finger rested lightly upon his forehead and stayed there as his dark eyes stared down at Sasuke, mouth drawn into a straight line. Sasuke began to fidget after a moment, his stomach flip-flopping. Itachi's eyes moved a fraction to the left, towards Sasuke's window as he tilted his head slightly. Sasuke frowned and followed his brother's gaze without moving his head. "…Itachi? What's going--?"_

"_Find the truth," Itachi said, then withdrew his finger and stepped back into shadow._

"_What are you--hey, wait!" Sasuke called after him, scrambling over to his nightstand and flicking on a light. Itachi was already gone. _

_Moments later, his door burst open and his mother rushed in, dark hair flailing about behind her, nearly catching his father in the face as he followed on her heels._

"_Sasuke!" his mother cried, throwing her arms about him._

"_Mom? Dad? What's going on?!" he asked. Neither replied, his mother too wrapped up in holding him and his father looking about the room. With a start, Sasuke realized his father's eyes were red with three dots of black in each._

"_Sir," a man in dark clothing under a green flak jacket said as he entered the room. The Uchiha fan within a star on his sleeve marked him as one of the military police. He also bore an active sharingan._

"_What's happening?" Sasuke asked again, his stomach shifting queasily. _

"_He's nowhere to be found on the grounds, but he was definitely here. We must've just missed him," the newcomer said._

"_He couldn't have gotten far. Leave two men here with them; mobilize the rest in search pattern taki," his father commanded. The man nodded and hurried away, Sasuke's father following after._

"_Wait!" Sasuke cried, starting forward. His mother tightened her grip on him, pulling him to her breast. _

"_It'll be all right," she whispered. "Everything will be a-all right." Droplets of moisture splashed onto his head._

:

:

The clicking of chopsticks echoed painfully about the dining area as Sasuke and his parents ate a celebratory dinner the evening of his graduation from the academy. Seated upon a plush red cushion at the low table, Sasuke kept his eyes on the food in front of him as he picked at it, bringing a clump of rice to his mouth. Out of his peripherals, he could see his mother to his right. She kept turning the pale, delicate features of her face towards her husband, who sat across from Sasuke at the head of the table. Fugaku had his eyes closed every time her soft brown gaze was directed at him, though, as he sat with his back perfectly straight in a dark green yukata. Despite this, his large, callused hands wielded his chopsticks with the same deftness and efficiency as always.

Finally, Mikoto opened her mouth. Sasuke tensed with another morsel of rice halfway to his lips. Mikoto's mouth closed as she sank back into her chair. After another moment, his mother began to open her mouth again as she leaned forward slightly. She paused, then let out a sigh and closed it once more, resuming her meal. Sasuke let out a quiet breathe of his own. The process repeated itself several times before his mother turned, jaw firming in a way Sasuke knew all too well.

"So, Sasuke-kun," she said. Sasuke cringed, but lifted his head enough so she could see his face. "Aren't you excited?" Sasuke shrugged. "I remember back when I became a genin," his mother went on. "I was so nervous about beginning my duties that I couldn't sleep at all the night after I graduated."

"Hn," Sasuke grunted.

"Those were different times, of course. I'm sure--"

"Now that you're a full fledged shinobi," Sasuke jerked at his father's abrupt words, "you will be even more closely scrutinized. I expect you to act as an Uchiha should, no matter what the situation or circumstances." Mikoto frowned at her husband as Sasuke turned his attention towards him, staring for a long moment. Fugaku lifted a steaming cup of tea to his lips and sipped. His eyes had remained closed. Sasuke gritted his teeth, then snapped up a bite of seasoned beef; the food suddenly tasted bland on his tongue. Sasuke's chopsticks spent the majority of their time down by the table after that. Finally he put them down altogether and stood.

"Sasuke--"

"Registration's tomorrow; I should get some rest," he interrupted his mother. The corners of his lips twitched upwards ever so slightly as he turned to her. "Thanks for the dinner, mom. It was great." He turned to Fugaku, smile slipping from his face as he gave the barest of nods. "Father." He gathered up his dishes and carried them into the kitchen, then slipped up to his room. He didn't bother with the lights as he shut the oak door behind him. He leaned back against the thick oak door, black bangs hanging into his face as he hung his head. With a sigh, he pushed off and trudged farther into his room, bypassing the bed along the far left wall and came to stand before his dresser.

His newly acquired hitai-ite rested there, and behind it a picture frame, face down on the dark polished wood. He tilted it upright, one hand resting on the top edge to keep it like that as his other tucked itself into a pocket of his white shorts. He frowned at the image captured within; a younger version of himself with a broad smile that Sasuke didn't think he could accomplish now if he'd wanted to. And next to him, the corners of his lips pulled upward…His frown deepened, eyes narrowing as he studied the face beside his younger self's. He found no secrets contained within the almost too delicate features of his brother's face, however. Nothing to indicate he was plotting against the clan and would eventually kill his best friend.

After a few more moments of intense study, Sasuke sighed and replaced the picture face down on his desk, then walked to his window and pushed his blinds aside. The last rays of the sun were dying as the moon took its place in the darkening sky and he slid his window open, then slipped out into the cool breeze.

:

:

"You didn't have to do that," Mikoto said, eyes narrowing at her husband after Sasuke retreated to his room.

"Do what," he stated calmly, still sipping his tea.

"You know what," she answered. He finally cracked one brown eye open, peering at her from its corner.

"I was merely reminding him of what is expected of him as my only heir," he said.

"He's also your _son_," Mikoto replied. "You could have at least congratulated him instead of heaping more pressure on the boy."

"You seem to forget," Fugaku said, jaw tightening, "about how far our family has fallen after _him_. Sasuke's idiocy afterwards didn't help any."

"Perhaps he wouldn't have acted out at all if you had stopped to really talk to him, instead of wasting all your time trying to convince him his brother was guilty."

"He _is_ guilty," Fugaku growled. "And don't you dare associate _him_ with our family like that." Mikoto sighed, rising as she gathered her dishes.

"You still don't get it," she said, shaking her head. "Do you really want to lose another so--"

"Silence!" Fugaku exclaimed. Both of his eyes were opened and narrowed at her. Mikoto stiffened.

"As you wish, my lord," she said coolly, bowing formally at the waist. She turned on her heel with a whip of her long dark hair and walked into the kitchen, setting the dishes beside Sasuke's in the sink before donning her apron. After several moments, Fugaku entered behind her, setting the remains of his own dinner on the counter before walking back out. Mikoto scowled at the plate she was furiously scrubbing at. When she had taken care of everything, she leaned against the sink, black hair hanging forward and eyes closed as he took a deep breath. _'Kami, when did our family become so broken.'_ She already knew the answer, of course.

With a sigh, Mikoto reached behind herself, pulling at the ties of her white apron and hanging it back on its hook near the door. She was still for a moment, chewing on her lower lip, then started off in the direction of Sasuke's room. Her light knocks upon his door went unanswered.

"Sasuke?" she asked with a frown, slowly opening his door. "Are you….?" The door opened fully to reveal an empty room, the curtain in front of Sasuke's open window fluttering in the night's breeze. Mikoto sighed and closed the door.

:

:

Sarutobi frowned at the document he held in his bony hand, brown gaze flicking over the edge of the paper to the blonde seated before him.

"What?" Naruto demanded as he sat with arms crossed over his orange jacket. Sarutobi sighed and gave a small shake of his head before returning his attention to the page.

The portrait it contained was clearly Naruto's, though the boy was striking a rather…outlandish pose, one hand held out as if to stop the camera and face scrunched up into a snarl. Both the face and hand had been covered with red and black paint, with horns jutting out from the boy's forehead. _'Devilish…'_

"Retake it," Sarutobi said at last, setting the paper aside.

"Why the hell should I?! It took me forever to get that face paint right!" Naruto exclaimed, stiffening in his seat. "And do you have any idea how hard it was to get those horns to stay?!" Sarutobi closed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"I'm sure it took you a great deal of time," Sarutobi said, leaning his elbows onto the desk, eyes opening and fixing the boy with a stern gaze. "But this Ninja Registration book is serious business; it lists all those in the village with high ability. It should be an important document to you." Naruto snorted and leaned back in his chair.

"Who cares about stuff like that." Sarutobi's mouth opened, but before he had a chance to speak he sensed a presence hovering just outside of the door. A moment later, it creaked open just a bit. The Hokage sighed, reaching up to tilt the triangular red and white headdress of Hokage lower over his face. The door burst open.

"Fight me, old man!" a shrill voice cried. _'Does it ever end?'_ The rest unfolded in a rather predictable manner.

"Young master!" a second shrill voice cried, and then,

"Ahh!" _THUMP!_ "Oww…" a pause, then "Dang it!! Someone must've set a trap!" Sarutobi sighed and cracked an eye open, glancing at the child rising from the floor rubbing at his blue capped head. Behind him, skidding to a halt in the door frame, was a jounin clad in dark clothing.

"Are you all right?!" the man cried, pushing up his dark, round sunglasses. "There's no trap here!"

"Who's _this_ noisy runt?" Naruto asked. Sarutobi sighed again, pressure beginning to build behind his eyes as Ebisu and Konohamaru shifted their attention towards Naruto. The former stiffened instantly, forgetting his sunglasses as they slipped down his nose to reveal narrowed eyes.

"You did something, didn't you!" Konohamaru yelled, jumping up to his feet and thrusting an accusing finger at Naruto. Naruto leapt to his own feet, grabbing hold of the long blue scarf bundled around Konohamaru's neck.

"You probably tripped on that ridiculous scarf, you idiot!" the blonde yelled right back. Sarutobi cleared his throat.

"You! Put him down this instant!" Ebisu ordered, stepping farther into the room. "Konohamaru's the third Hokage's grandson!" Sarutobi cleared his throat a little louder this time.

"This little runt?" Naruto asked, peering closely at Konohamaru.

"That's right!" Konohamaru shouted back. "Go ahead and punch me; I dare you!" Sarutobi's next throat clear was interrupted by the sound of Naruto's fist meeting Konohamaru's head.

"Like I care who you are!"

"Ow!"

"Enough!" Sarutobi said at last, standing with a shuffle of his white robes. All three froze, turning towards him.

"Naruto, put him down and go retake your picture," he said. Naruto's face scrunched, eyes narrowing as he opened his mouth. "That's an order, Naruto! Now!" With a scowl, the blonde dropped Konohamaru to the ground and stomped out of the room.

"My deepest apologies, Hokage-sama," Ebisu said, stifling a cough with his fist as Sarutobi returned to his seat. "As Konohamaru's private instructor, I take full responsibility for his actions. Now, with your permission, we'll return to our trai--Huh?!" Ebisu broke off, head whipping back and forth. "He got a way again!"

:

:

'_Hm?'_ Naruto thought with a frown, pausing in his step and casting a glance over his shoulder. From behind a nearby pole, the end of a long blue scarf was draped across the ground. Naruto shook his head and resumed his trek away from the Hokage tower. After a few moments he snuck another glance behind him. This time, spiky black hair sprouting from a blue capped head poked up from behind a box. Another few steps and….

"Stop following me!" Naruto shouted whirling around and thrusting a finger at the boy as he huddled next a fence, hair sticking out from behind a square of camouflage fabric with his fingers plainly visible at the corners. "You're an idiot if you think that'll fool me!" A chuckle sounded from behind the fabric as it lowered to reveal the ruddy cheeked face of Konohamaru spreading into a grin.

"You're pretty slick," he said. "I knew you'd make a good boss!" Naruto frowned, narrowing his eyes at the younger boy.

"What?"

"In exchange," Konohamaru went on, "teach me how to stand up to my grandpa like that!" Naruto blinked.

"What are you talking about?" Konohamaru was wringing his hands now, the sheet of fence colored camouflage forgotten on the ground as he shifted from one foot to the other.

"All the shinobi around here are afraid of grandpa; they would never have the guts to hit his own grandson in front of him!" he exclaimed. "And that's why I need you to show me how to deal with him, so I can challenge him and become Hokage!" Naruto narrowed his eyes at the boy.

"Hokage, huh?" he asked in a whisper. Konohamaru nodded anxiously.

"Well? What do you say?"

"I don't have time to be playing around with kids," Naruto snapped, turning away.

"Hey, wait!" Konohamaru yelled after him and a second later the boy rushed past Naruto, nearly tripping as he whirled to face the blonde.

"You can't just turn me away like that! Didn't you hear me?! I'm offering to be your subordinate!"

"Why should I?" Naruto asked, brushing past the boy.

"Because if I don't become Hokage, no one will acknowledge me!" came the answer from behind. Naruto stopped, looking over his shoulder. "My name is Konohamaru; I was named after this village," the boy continued, fists clenching at his sides. "But no one ever calls me that. All anyone sees is the Hokage's grandson, and I'm sick of it." He looked up, locking eyes with Naruto as he took a step forward. "That's why I need the name of Hokage right now! So people will have to acknowledge me for me!" Naruto stared at him for a moment before turning around slowly to face the boy.

"Who would acknowledge a weakling like you?!" he growled. Konohamaru jerked back, eyes widening. "If you want people to acknowledge you, stop whining and grow stronger!"

"You sound just like my tutor," Konohamaru muttered, casting his eyes to the side. "'Keep training,' he says; 'I'll give you the shortcut to being strong, and when you're the strongest,_ then_ you can become Hokage.'" Konohamaru's jaw tightened as he threw his hands down at his side. "I'm tired of waiting for him to make me strong! I want to be Hokage right now!"  
"Idiot!" Naruto hissed. "There is no 'shortcut'!" Naruto's fists clenched as he raised one up in front of his face. "You can't rely on some tutor to help you! The only one you can depend on is yourself!" He narrowed his eyes past his fist at the younger boy.

"Someone like you could never understand." Konohamaru stared wide eyed at him. Naruto let his fist fall, then turned and walked away.

:

:

It was odd, being surrounded by so many while simultaneously feeling so unwelcome. There'd been a time when he hadn't been able to walk these streets without _some_one flagging him down, anxious to hear about his studies and his progress in the shinobi world. Times had changed.

From the corner of his eye, Sasuke saw the group of boys at least ten years his senior turn as one, conversation forgotten, and narrow their eyes at him as he passed. Sasuke kept his pace constant as he navigated the streets of the Uchiha compound, hands tucked into the pockets of his white shorts. He passed the shop run by his aunt and uncle, Uchiha Uruchi and Teyaki respectively. The former offered him an uneasy smile, the latter a brief wave before they hurried back to work. Sasuke suppressed a wince and nodded to them, but did not stop. Times had definitely changed.

At last he came to a long rectangular building, a half circle arching from atop its red shingled roof, the flat rounded surface split by a broad tower rising just above the arching stone. A circular hole had been cut out of the half circle on either side of the dividing structure, and the tope of the tower bore the red half circle over white of the Uchiha fan within a four pointed blue-green star outlined in black. A small smile tugged at one corner of his lips and suddenly he was a kid again, being carried on his brother's back with a sprained ankle as he stared up at that symbol with wide eyes and gaping smile. _"When I grow up, I'm going to join the police, too!"_ They were his own words; a dream from long ago. With a start he slipped out of the past, eyes refocusing on the building before him.

It wasn't the same as his memories, of course; _that_ building had been the main headquarters for the Military Police, located closer to the center of Konoha. This one was simply a branch office, though he supposed it had once been the Headquarters way back when the Military Police had first been founded. _'I'm sure I'll learn all about the history soon enough,'_ he though with a slight shake of his head, smile slipping from his face.

With a barely audible sigh Sasuke started forward, towards the steps which ran the length of the building front, the spiky black hair at the back of his head waving in the breeze. He reached up to brush his bangs away from his forehead, but found them already held at bay by the hitai-ite he'd put on for the registration picture.

As he set one foot on the top step, he caught sight of a figure standing near the door. Sasuke's lips twitched down into a frown as he continued forward, shielded from the early morning sun by the building. The man was leaning against the wall just to the left of the door, a wisp of smoke rising from the cigarette between his lips. His tall, lanky form was covered in a dark green flack jacket over dark blue clothes. It was a uniform similar to that of a chuunin, set apart only by the white diamond patterns ringing the lower portion of his pants and the Uchiha fan within a blue-green star outlined in black on his upper sleeve. A shock of dark gray hair stuck more or less straight up from his head, swaying as he lifted his head to expel another mouthful of smoke.

"Sasuke," he said as Sasuke approached, bowing his head and reclaiming the dwindling white stick with his lips for a moment. His dark, beady eyes narrowed as they met Sasuke's onyx gaze.

"Yashiro," Sasuke replied evenly with a brief nod, reaching for the door.

"I hope you're not expecting anyone to go easy on you here," Yashiro replied, eyes continuing to follow Sasuke as he stood in the open doorway, "it won't be like it was at the academy." Sasuke let the door shut behind him without comment. He didn't pause as he navigated the office, careful to keep his eyes forward. There a secretary saw him and shook her head; a police officer narrowed his eyes as he passed. With an effort born of years of practice Sasuke kept his face impassive, though his hand curled into a partial fist. He stopped before the door to his father's office, rapping on the wooden frame of the sliding rice paper doors.

"Enter," his father's voice called out. Sasuke stepped in closing the door behind him. From behind his desk, Fugaku leaned back in his chair, fixing Sasuke with a stern gaze. "You're late."

"I told you last night, I had to register," Sasuke replied. "Or would you rather I forego my duties as a shinobi every time you call for me?" A snort came from the only other person in the room. Sasuke glanced at the man out of the corner of his eye, frowning slightly.

Uchiha Teijo was an older man, his black hair faded mostly to gray and hung down about his shoulders. His face was strong despite the wrinkles which had begun to form on his dark forehead and at the corners of his eyes. He filled out his uniform with a short, stocky frame and was missing the pinky and ring finger from his left hand.

"You're a genin now; it can't be helped. It would look poorly on you if you were lax in your duties, especially when you are assigned to a jounin sensei," Fugaku said, drawing Sasuke's attention back to him. This last was said with a flicked glance at Teijo, followed by another snort from the gray haired man. "But I _expect_ you to schedule your time better," Fugaku leaned his elbows on his desk, dark eyes narrowing as they returned to Sasuke. "Whether or not you join the police force, you _will_ make every effort in the studies laid out before you. It's your duty as an Uchiha. " Fugaku motioned to Teijo. "Officer Teijo will be instructing you over the next few weeks." Teijo crossed his arms over a broad chest and narrowed his eyes at Sasuke, mouth pressed into a thin line. Sasuke held back a sigh.

:

:

The winds whipped his white robes about as Sarutobi stood atop the Hokage tower. He couldn't say just how long he'd been up there, hands clasped behind his back, wrinkled and spotted face tilted toward the faces carved into the mountain, overlooking the village with rocky gazes. Dark eyes sought out the face on the far right; the solemn expression of stone so out of place with the face that flashed through his memories. _"Come on--that looks nothing like me! It looks so….so…so _serious_." _A smile tugged at the Hokage's lips as the words of his successor--and, sadly, predecessor--flashed through his mind. His grin widened as he saw the slightly deformed nose that was still being repaired. _'I wonder what you would've thought of _that_.'_ The smile slowly slipped off of his face and he gave his head a slight shake. _'I wonder what you would say, seeing how much I failed you.'_ Behind him, someone dropped from the sky, landing with a tap of sandaled feet on the tiles.

"Ah, Iruka; I've been expecting you," he said, keeping his eyes on the face above.

"Did Naruto show up for registration?" the brown haired teacher asked as he came to stand beside the older man. Sarutobi nodded.

"Yes. He chose a rather….interesting pose for his picture." Iruka sighed.

"I thought he might try something. I hope it wasn't _too_ bad."

"More unsettling than anything else," Sarutobi replied. There was a pause, in which Iruka shifted about beside him.

"Did you…find out anything?" the chuunin asked at last. Sarutobi peered at Iruka out of the corner of his eye.

"Nothing discernable. He's got an attitude; but then, Naruto's _always_ had an attitude. You know that."

"Do you think…" Iruka paused, glancing around. They were alone, but he lowered his voice anyway. "Do you think he knows about the kyuubi?" Sarutobi shook his head.

"I've had ANBU investigating, but so far they haven't discovered anything that would point to it," he said. "As you know, the only ones that could've told him are the adults that were around twelve years ago, and I made a law that no one was to mention it. So far, only a few have dared to break that law; and they were dealt with swiftly. There's no evidence that any of them were in contact with Naruto, though." Iruka sighed.

"Seems like I've wasted your time, Hokage-sama," he said. "It's just, when Naruto transformed into that fox in class…."

"It's common knowledge that the people of this village, civilian and shinobi alike, aren't fond of foxes. They see them as signs of terrible omens and ill fortune. He likely just picked something that he assumed would unsettle you the most," Sarutobi replied, frowning even as he spoke.

"I suppose you're right," Iruka agreed with another sigh.

"Tell me, Iruka," Sarutobi asked, turning fully towards the teacher. "What made you so concerned?" Iruka shifted, then sighed and stepped forward to lean his forearms on the circular roof's railing.

"I just thought Naruto's been acting…strange," he said.

"Strange how?"

"Just….different. Like you said, he's always had an attitude, but this past year it seems…I don't know, darker somehow. Like Yondaime's face," Iruka said, gesturing up towards the mountain.

"He's vandalized those faces countless times," Sarutobi pointed out.

"I know," Iruka said, nodding his head. "But there was a time when his pranks were harmless. Now they've gotten destructive." Sarutobi stroked at the point of his steely gray goatee.

"Go on." Iruka pushed off from the railing, turning back to face him.

"It's not just that. He used to always goof off, more interested in getting people to laugh at him than doing the work. That's changed, too."

"From what I've heard, his grades have remained consistently low," Sarutobi said. Iruka leaned back on the rail and crossed his arms.

"The lowest in the class. He's not paying any more attention than usual. Honestly, I'm surprised that he passed," Iruka replied, shaking his head. "But he's also not as…loud as before; he doesn't tell as many jokes or brag about himself."

"And that's cause for concern," Sarutobi said. Iruka frowned.

"No, I suppose not…It's just…."

"Not Naruto," Sarutobi finished for him. Iruka nodded. Sarutobi clasped his hands behind his back once more, lifting his head once again to the Fourth Hokage's depiction. He was silent for a time.

"Did you know that the Yondaime wanted the village to see Naruto as a hero?" he asked at last.

"Hero?" Sarutobi nodded.

"That was his wish when he sealed the nine tails into Naruto," he continued. "In essence, Naruto was given a tremendous burden for the sake of the village when he was nothing but a new born babe. But the adults don't see it that way. They see Naruto _as_ the nine tails, rather than someone who protects them from the demon. Because of their fear, they have grown to hate and despise Naruto and have passed that attitude on to their children as well." He turned his head, catching Iruka's gaze. "Do you know, Iruka?" The chuunin frowned.

"Know what?" he asked.

"Know what happens when a person hates another and refuses to acknowledge their existence," Sarutobi said, looking up again. "When that happens," he continued in a whisper, "their attitude is reflected in their eyes, which become cold and can pierce deeper than any kunai." He sighed, shaking his head slowly as his eyes drooped closed. "It's regrettable, but not totally unexpected, that Naruto's life has made him like this." Silence reigned for a long time after that. "Still," Sarutobi continued, shaking himself out of his reverie, "the possibility that someone has revealed the secret of the Kyuubi to Naruto is too dangerous to ignore. I'll continue to have ANBU investigate. I'll also talk to his new jounin-sensei."

"Thank you," Iruka said.

"You're not the only one fond of the boy," Sandaime replied, smiling slightly at Iruka's sheepish grin. "Just don't tell anyone."

"Yes sir, Hokage-sama," Iruka said with a brief bow before turning to leave. He'd only taken a couple steps when he turned back around. "I've also considered what you said to me the other night."

"Oh?" Iruka nodded.

"And….you were right. Naruto _is_ a lot like I was when I was younger. If I had done a better job, Naruto wouldn't have had to endure that kind of pain. I plan on atoning for that." Sarutobi smiled as the chuunin leaped away.

"Well my friend," he whispered to the Yondaime's face. "Looks like we have one more to look out for him." _'I just hope it's not too little too late.'_

:

:

'_He means to destroy me,' _Sasuke concluded as he fell back onto his bed, flinging an arm over his burning eyes with a grown. He flexed his other hand and rotated his wrist, trying to alleviate the tightness that had settled in both. Behind his eyes, a throbbing that had formed some time ago continued on, brutal in its consistency. A knock sounded through his door.

"Sasuke?" his mother's voice called as the door opened. Sasuke sat up with a sigh as his mother stepped in with a tray of food.

"I brought you some dinner," she said, moving towards the desk which sat on the wall to the left of the door.

"Is it that late already?" he asked, rubbing at his neck.

"Later," she said, clearing a spot on his paper strewn desk for the food. "I would've called you down but your father…" she trailed off with a slight shake of her head. "So, I take it you've started your introductory course into the Military Police?" she asked, looking at him and arching a sleek black eyebrow.

"Yeah," he replied, moving back to the desk.

"You don't seem too excited."

"I'm doing paperwork and writing out reports," he said flatly with a gaze to match. Mikoto laughed softly.

"Well, you always _did_ wonder what it was like being an officer. The only person that has more paperwork would probably be the Hokage," she teased, reaching out and ruffling his black locks. He cringed but made no move stop her, then plopped into his seat with a grunt.

"Most of these aren't even _interesting_ reports," he grumbled.

"It is a tad tedious," his mother agreed. "Don't worry, I'm sure you'll be moving on to more adventurous training soon. Why don't you finish this tomorrow? You're getting your team assignment tomorrow, right? You should get some rest." Sasuke chuckled humorlessly.

"This all has to be done _by_ tomorrow morning," he said, gesturing to the stacks. Mikoto frowned.

"That seems a bit much for your first night."

"Father assigned me to Teijo."

"Ahh. I see," his mother said. She was silent for a moment, then, "I know it might seem like he's harsh, but he _is_ still grieving over the loss of his son--"

"Who he thinks Itachi murdered," Sasuke said.

"….That is a….complicated matter." Sasuke snorted.

"Father doesn't seem to think so."

"Your father is another…complicated thing," Mikoto replied. Then, with a deep breath. "Speaking of which, about last night--"

"It wasn't just last night." Mikoto sighed.

"Just…try to understand your father. He's…."

"Complicated," Sasuke finished for her. She gave him a half hearted smile.

"Right."

"…..Thanks for the dinner, mom," Sasuke said. Her smile broadened and she ruffled his hair one last time before leaving. Sasuke finished his meal and, with another sigh, went back to work.

:

:

Naruto fell back first onto the cold ground of the forest clearing, panting for breath. He gazed at the darkened sky through a hole in the leaves as the wind played over the burning skin of his bare torso; sometimes soothing, other times making him wince. The sensation of the grass beneath him likewise served to irritate freshly healed pink skin. His aching muscles longed for home, but the thought of his bed brought tightness back to his chest and he shook his head to clear it of such thoughts. He rolled onto his stomach, then proceeded to rise to his hands and knees. The sound of banging wood caught his attention as he put one foot beneath himself. He blinked as he turned toward the cabin to his right, worn down by time and the lack of inhabitants. The door had opened a crack. A ghost of a smile touched Naruto's lips as he scrambled up and started forward.

Throwing the door the rest of the way open revealed nothing but empty space and cobwebs. Naruto sighed with a shake of his head, shoulders slumping. He stepped back. A gust of wind pushed the door forward, where it banged against a doorframe that had somehow grown crooked and fell back away from a latch which could no longer hold it in place. Naruto closed his eyes, lifting his face to the sky as the silence joined with the creaking door and the rustling of leaves in the wind to suffocate him.


	4. Teams

A/N: I don't own Naruto or the universe in which he exists; such is the property of Masashi Kishimoto. With that being said, I just wanted to say thanks to those few who have read and reviewed up till now--ninja-freak13, redfoxmoon, Pryotra, Dragon77. It's nice to know someone finds this interesting.

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Chapter 3: Teams

_The dim glow of a lone lantern bobbed through the woods as a figure swathed in shadows slipped between the trees. Pulling to a stop by a particular tree, the figure hoisted the lantern higher, squinting at the trunk until he found it; a small spiral etched into the wood. He glanced around himself, then extinguished the lantern and slid it into the pack on his back. He blinked for a moment as his eyes began to adjust to the darkness. Then he reached up and grabbed the lowest branch, hauling himself up and began to climb. A rickety tree house awaited him. He rapped twice on the door._

"_Password," a voice whispered from the inside._

"_Hokage," he whispered back. The door creaked open._

"_It's supposed to be _Rokudaime _Hokage," Naruto hissed. Sasuke rolled his eyes and pushed passed the blonde._

"_Whatever," he said, picking his way carefully upon the floor boards. "Are you sure this thing is safe?" Naruto's chest puffed out beneath a white t-shirt smudged with dirt._

"_I made it myself," Naruto said, thrusting his thumb into the red swirl mark on the front of his shirt._

"That's_ reassuring," Sasuke muttered, picking a relatively clean spot within the faint circle of light cast by an old, rusty lamp._

"_Did you bring the stuff?" Naruto asked as he squatted across from him, wringing his hands. Sasuke knelt, slipping his pack off._

"_Let's see--shaving cream, toilet paper, eggs--"_

"_What about the spray paint?" Naruto interrupted. Sasuke frowned and rummaged in his pack a little bit._

"_Yup," he said, pulling the cans out. Naruto grinned._

"_Hehe, excellent," he said, rubbing his hands together. Sasuke shifted about for a moment._

"_I'm not so sure we should do this…." Naruto's brilliant blue gaze jerked up to meet his._

"_What?"_

"_I--"_

"_Didn't you say these guys are your rivals?"_

"_Well technically they're--"_

"_And didn't they insult you?"_

"_Well yeah, but--"_

"_I can't just let them do that to my friend and not do anything!" Sasuke gave a start, eyes widening. Naruto tilted his head to the side._

"_Then again, if you're scared about what your old man might say….."_

"_I'm _not_ scared!" Sasuke exclaimed, cheeks growing warm. Naruto grinned again._

"_Good," he said, slipping away into the shadows and returning with a large scroll. Sasuke's eyebrows rose, his mouth dropping open slightly as the scroll was unfurled._

"_That's…That's…"_

"_Amazing, right?" Naruto asked, rocking back and forth on his heels. "What else did you expect?" Sasuke shook his head as he scanned the crudely drawn, yet incredibly detailed, map of the Hyuuga compound._

"_You know, if you spent _half_ as much time on your schoolwork, you'd have better grades than me."_

"_Hmmm?" Naruto said, blinking as he looked up from the map._

"_Forget it," Sasuke said with another shake of his head._

"_Ok," Naruto said, turning back to the parchment. Sasuke picked up the lamp and moved it over the scroll so he could see it better. "We should start in the gardens. You'll get me over this wall here and--"  
"Hold on," Sasuke said, "Why do you get to go first? I have a better stealth grade. You're wearing orange shorts, for crying out loud."_

"_I've been sneaking in and out of places longer," the blonde replied. _

"_I've been there before," Sasuke pointed out. "What?" Naruto continued, stiffening. "You don't think I can do it?!" Sasuke shook his head._

"_No, that's not what I mea--"_

"_Good, then you'll boost me onto this wall here," Naruto said, glancing up at Sasuke. The dark haired boy opened his mouth then shut it with a sigh. "And I'll lift you up and we'll commence the mission." Sasuke frowned at the map._

"_Do we have to vandalize the garden?" he asked after a moment. Naruto rolled his blue orbs._

"_Of course we don't _have _to, but trees and flowers are really annoying to clean off." Sasuke shifted around for a moment._

"_Could we maybe…_not_… vandalize the gardens?" Naruto frowned at him, cocking his head to the side. Sasuke's eyes shifted to the side._

"_It's just that….well…" He took a deep breath and continued in a whisper, "Hinata-chan really likes the gardens." It was silent for a moment. Sasuke glanced cautiously at Naruto as the other boy looked up, face scrunched in concentration._

"_Who?" he asked at last._

"_You know, the Hyuuga girl in our class, kind of quiet, presses her fingers together a lot…" he trailed off as Naruto continued to frown at him. "Just forget it." Sasuke sighed. A slow grin crept across Naruto's face._

"_You like her." Sasuke's head snapped up._

"_Do not!" he denied in a strangled, high pitched cry. His cheeks burned as Naruto's grin widened._

"_You like her!" He declared again, laughing._

"_Sasuke and Hinata--" Sasuke tackled him. Naruto's laughter continued as the two tumbled about the creaking floorboards._

:

:

'_Sasuke-kun.' _Her gaze sought him out immediately upon entering the room. A small grin began to pull at her lips as she beheld the black haired boy, seated by the wall in the third row with elbows propped up on the desk, hands clasped underneath his chin. A thrill ran down Sakura's spine at the thought of those intense, dark eyes looking her way. _'This is it,_' she thought with a deep breath. _'Today, before we go our separate ways, I'm finally going to tell Sasuke-kun how I feel.' _Then, squaring her shoulders, she took a step towards him—and froze. _'What if he doesn't feel the same way? What if I make a fool out of myself and ruin any chance of ever getting him to notice me? What if I'm too late? What if he's already got a girlfriend? What if he tells me I'm not his type? What if…." _On and on they went, a million jumbled thoughts racing through her mind at once, scenario after scenario of rejection playing through her mind. _'What are you waiting for!' _a part of her hissed. _'Hurry! Before someone else sits next to him!'_ She was still, though, knees wobbling, stomach fluttering and breathe coming in quick, shallow gasps, unable to get past the tightness gripping her chest. Then, from the corner of her eye, she saw Ino making a beeline for the lone seat next to Sasuke. She was moving before she even realized what she was doing, and the two girls intercepted each other on the way there.

"What are _you_ doing, forehead girl?" Ino asked, eyes narrowing. Sakura paused, frozen once again in place. _'Don't let her get in the way!' _a part of her yelled. _'Run away,'_ another part pleaded. She almost listened to the latter, but then noticed the smirk on Ino's smooth creamy face. Sakura stiffened, her own eyes narrowing as thoughts and feelings were washed away by the rush of blood pounding in her ears.

"_I'm_ sitting next to Sasuke, Ino-_pig_," she said with a scowl. "What are _you_ doing?"

"Obviously, _I'm_ the one who's going to be sitting next to Sasuke-kun," Ino said, crossing her arms. "_I_ was here first." Sakura's hands curled into fists.

"What do you mean _you _were first?! It was obvious that _I_ was on my way over here before anyone."

"You snooze you lose," Ino said. The two girls stood exchanging glares, neither one backing down.

"A-ano, i-is this—is this s-seat t-taken?' A quiet voice asked. With a start, Sakura and Ino turned as one towards the voice.

"Guess not," Sasuke said, shrugging one shoulder. The girl which stood by the seat was a tiny figure, dwarfed in a light tan jacket almost twice her size. She gave a slight bow of her head, the two long locks of dark purple hair which framed her face swaying before she quietly slid into the empty seat. For a moment, all Sakura could do was stare.

"Hinata!" she yelled alongside Ino.

"Hey, hey; what's all this commotion?" the voice of Iruka cut in as he entered the class, "Sakura, Ino; you two better find seats."

In the end, Ino claimed the seat next to Hinata, while Sakura was forced into the row behind. The pink haired youth stared intently at the black spikes of hair which jutted out from the back of Sasuke's skull, only half listening as Iruka explained the team selection process. _'I did it again,'_ she thought, shoulders slumping as she sagged down into her seat. _'Stupid Ino; if she would just stop getting in my way.'_ She sighed, resting one elbow up on her desk and plopping her chin into her hand. _'That was probably the last chance I'll ever have. The chances of me being on the same team as Sasuke—'_

"…Haruno Sakura," Iruka's voice cut in. She started, blinking her green eyes at the scar faced chuunin, "and Uchiha Sasuke." Time seemed to stand still. A slow grin began to spread across her face, and she directed her gaze to Ino to find that the blonde had dropped her head into her hands at the news. And then the smile slowly slipped away, and the queasy fluttering of her stomach returned full force. _'Come on, this is a dream come true!'_ her inner voice cried. _'Spending time with Sasuke-kun, no Ino around to screw things up…'_ The thought did nothing to ease her nausea.

"All right, that's it," Iruka said, once again drawing her back into the real world. "You'll meet your jounin senseis after lunch; you're free until then."

Sakura rose slowly with her classmates, gaze following after Sasuke as he somehow managed to be the first to reach the door. Out of reflex she took a step forward, mouth opening as she reached a hand out as if to stop him. The words never left her lips, however, and her hand fell back to dangle at her side. _'Like his response would be any different _this_ time.'_ She shook her head and headed for the door.

Her eye caught Naruto coming her way and she found herself stiffening, lungs drawing in a deep breath as once again familiar words sprang to mind. As was his habit lately, though, Naruto brushed past her without a glance. She ground her teeth together, knuckles turning white as she tightened her grip on the bag which carried her lunch. With a huff, she lifted her chin up and marched out of the room. Upon leaving the academy, however, her shoulders sagged underneath an invisible weight as she walked aimlessly. Finally she found herself next to a bench on a stone pathway and sat, pulling out her bento. _'I don't know who my third teammate is,'_ she realized as she picked at her food, staring into nothing.

:

:

'_It could've been worse,'_ thought one Nara Shikamaru as he sat perched on the edge of one of the upper classroom's balconies, feet dangling in open air. His dark eyes surveyed the greenery beneath him as he bit into a rice ball. Behind him, the familiar crunch of potato chips being eaten was the only sound other then the wind whispering through the trees, teasing the black spikes gathered at the back of his head. For a long moment, there was blissful silence.

A heavy sigh to his right broke the spell. Shikamaru paused, then continued eating. Another, louder sigh followed soon after. Once again he continued eating, keeping his eyes trained on the trees around them. At the third heaving sigh, he let out a quiet breath of his own. _'It could be worse,' _he told himself again, turning his head to the right. Yamanaka Ino was standing there, hunched over a section of railing with an elbow propped on the metal bar, chin resting in one hand and a rice ball held forgotten in the other. For a second, a deep blue eye glanced at him out of its corner. Then shoulders left partially bare by her purple midriff revealing top slumped with another sigh.

"Of all the rotten luck," she said.

"This isn't about Sasuke again, is it?" Shikamaru said at last with a sigh.

"Of course it is!" Ino said with a glare. "If Sakura gets her claws into him—No!" she squealed with a violent shake of her head. "I can't even think about it!"

"I still don't see what's so great about him," Shikamaru grumbled, then winced as Ino turned to face him.

"I told you, that's why you're not popular," She said, shaking her head. "Honestly, Shikamaru, if you would try to be _half_ as cool and smart and cute and dreamy as--hey, are you listening?!"

"Yeah, yeah," Shikamaru replied, taking another bite of his food.

"Humph," she huffed, leaning her bandaged wrapped lower back against the rail, "You just can't help some people." She began to eat. "All right, listen up," she continued after a moment, "as long as I'm stuck with you two, let's get one thing straight. _I'm_ in charge, got it?"

"Sure," Shikamaru agreed.

"We should go out for barbeque to celebrate our new team," Chouji spoke up, voice muffled by what Shikamaru guessed to be at least two rice balls. Ino smacked her forehead.

"Why me?" she asked.

"It could be worse." Shikamaru muttered. Ino pursed her lips.

"Yeah, I guess you're right," she agreed. Then she smiled. "At least I can take solace in the fact that _Naruto_'s on Sakura's team, too." Shikamaru, finished with his meal, laid back on the balcony, hands tucked beneath his head and dark eyes picking out a cloud floating overhead.

"Does anyone else think Naruto has been acting a little…strange lately?" Chouji asked after a moment. Shikamaru shifted so he could see his friend. Lunch resting in a box on his lap, the Akimichi boy bore a frown on his round face.

"Naruto's _always_ acting strange," Ino pointed out. Chouji shook his head.

"Not like this."

"Like what?"

"He's just…different." Shikamaru regarded the other boy closely for a moment, taking in the deepening frown and the way his face nearly devoured his eyes as it scrunched in thought. Then the pineapple haired genin resumed his position.

"So what if he is? What do you care?" Ino asked.

"Well, we were friends once," Chouji replied after a long pause.

"You were actually friends with that loser?" Ino said, laughing.

"Well, I wouldn't say friends, exactly," Shikamaru said, frowning. "More like we were always getting in trouble together for disrupting class."

"We were friends," Chouji insisted. "Naruto, Kiba--even Sasuke."

"As if Sasuke would be caught dead hanging out with _Naruto_," Ino said with a sniff.

"Actually," Shikamaru said, "Sasuke spent more time with Naruto than any of us."

"He did not!" Ino exclaimed, stomping over to stand by Shikamaru with fists posted on purple clad hips and blocking his view of the sky. "You take that back!"

"Fine, fine," he said, waving her away. She glared at him for a moment longer, then retreated with a flick of her long blonde ponytail. "I wouldn't worry about it too much, Chouji."

"All right," the other boy replied. The crunch of a potato chip followed soon after. Shikamaru spent the remainder of the lunch period looking up, a small frown creasing his brow. The clouds passed by above without much consideration.

:

:

"You can come out now," Sasuke called from his place beneath the shadow of a great, towering tree where he ate his lunch. Hyuuga Hinata stepped out from behind another tree in the copse which rested by the bank of the Nakano river, head bowed and the bag holding her lunch clasped before her with both hands.

"F-forgive me, S-Sasuke-kun," she said as she approached. "Y-you looked d-deep in th-thought; I-I didn't w-want to d-disturb you." Sasuke arched a black brow as she seated herself across from him.

"Oh? What happened to that boldness you demonstrated in class?" Though her head ducked even lower than usual, Sasuke could easily make out the scarlet which had risen in her cheeks.

"I-I was-s j-just looking f-for a s-seat," she said. Sasuke offered her a small smile.

"Well, thanks." The Hyuuga's face grew redder as she jerked her head up and down once, then withdrew a bento from her bag and began to eat quietly. Sasuke studied her for a moment, mouth opening, but leaned back against the tree instead. His gaze sought out the leaves above him, swaying in the breeze, as he listened to the rush of the river to his left, a small smile on his face.

:

:

"You're late," Iruka remarked. The jounin walking past him in the academy halls paused and turned to face him. Iruka met the man's half-lidded, one eyed gaze with narrowed eyes as he leaned against the wall next to the academy entrance. The mask covering the other man's mouth and nose crinkled down as if in a frown.

"Oh?" he replied. "I suppose I am. Iruka-sensei, right?" Iruka sighed, pushing off of the wall.

"That's right. And you must be Hatake-san--"

"Call me Kakashi,"

"Kakashi," he amended. "I wanted to clarify what the Sandaime said to you." Kakashi blinked, staring at him.

"The Sandaime _did_ talk to you, right?" Iruka said with a frown. A head of unruly silver hair cocked to the side. "You know," the brown haired man continued, lowering his voice, "about Naruto?"

"Oh yeah. That," Kakashi replied.

"So you've been informed?" Kakashi nodded. "I was thinking I could give you some pointers on how to handle Naruto; things to look for, areas he has to work on--"

"Mah, Iruka-sensei," Kakashi interrupted, waving his hand, "Don't worry so much."

"But I--"

"I promise, I have everything under control."

"Really," Iruka said, frowning as he looked Kakashi up and down.

"Mmhmm," Kakashi replied. Iruka frowned at him for a moment longer, then gave a small shake of his head and sighed. _'Is this guy really the famed Copycat ninja?'_

"If you say so," he said at last. "Still, you might want to look out for some sort of practical joke. Naruto tends to...act out…when he's restless. And he's had plenty of time to think something up."

"I'll keep that in mind," Kakashi said. There was a brief silence between them, then, "Was there something else?" Iruka opened his mouth, then shut it and shook his head.

"Just...good luck," he said at last, then stepped past the jounin and slipped out of the academy door.

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Kakashi waited until the teacher had left before moving on towards the proper classroom. When he reached it, he noticed the door was slightly ajar. Kakashi shook his head with a sigh, then slid the door open and poked his head in.

More than two decades of honed experience warned him of the object dropping from above, but he didn't move. Instead, the eraser landed in his silver locks, expelling a cloud of chalk before bouncing away and flopping to the ground. The blonde boy sitting towards the back of the room snickered. _'...A spitting image,'_ he thought, staring for a moment. In front of him, a girl with long pink hair--Haruno Sakura, according to her file-- quickly covered up her smile with a gasp.

"Oh sensei, I'm so sorry! I told Naruto not to, but he just wouldn't listen!" she said, shooting the blonde a glare. _'A girl who's too afraid to say what she really means.' _ A quit huff drew his attention to the dark haired boy seated with elbows propped up on the desk, fingers laced beneath his chin. The black spikes which shot out from the back of his head wavered as he shook it. _'And a boy quick to judge and dismiss.'_ He let out a sigh and considered just turning around. Instead, he stepped in and ran his gaze over the three.

"How should I put this," he said, titling his head and tapping at his cloth covered jaw. "My first impression is…" the pink haired girl leaned forward slightly. "I don't think I like you guys very much." The girl's shoulders slumped, head dropping with a sigh. Kakashi posted a hand on his blue clad hip and scratched at the back of his head. "Well," he sighed, "I suppose I already said yes, so…" he turned, waving at them. "Follow me."

He led them to the roof, where they walked along a tree lined path beneath several arches towards the three steps leading down to a half circle platform open to the sky. The sun was shining brightly above them, and Kakashi watched a couple of birds fluttering about in the sky as he led the genin out from beneath the last arch. The jounin took a spot leaning back against the rail at the edge of the roof. The kids looked about before taking spots on the steps.

"Now," he said, crossing his arms, "how about you tell me about yourselves?"

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked.

"You know; likes; hobbies; dislikes; dreams for the future. That kind of stuff," he said, making a lazy gesture with his hand.

"Umm...can you go first and show us how it's done?" _'I thought it was pretty self explanatory…'_ "Me?" he said aloud, looking up. "Let's see...My name's Hatake Kakashi. My likes and dislikes?...I don't really feel like telling you those. As far as my hobbies...I have a lot of hobbies…" He lowered his eyes back to the group before him. "All right, now it's your turn. Let's start with you." He gestured to Sakura, who shifted upon the lowest step, straightening her white trimmed red cheongsam where the ends rested upon black shorts.

"I'm Haruno Sakura," she started matter-of-factly. She paused for a long moment, mouth still open. Her emerald gaze flicked over to Sasuke for a moment, sitting behind and to the right of her.

"Who I like—" she began, then shook her head. "I mean, what I like…" she trailed off, eyes taking on a glassy, far away look and was silent as she frowned.

"How about your dislikes?" Kakashi prompted after awhile. She blinked.

"Hmm?"

"You know, thing's you find annoying, people who grate on your nerves," Kakashi continued.

"Naruto!" she exclaimed, twisting around the other way to stare at the blonde on the uppermost step. The blonde just grunted and crossed his arms.

"You're not so great yourself," he answered, looking away. The pink haired girl rocked back, then a vein popped in her forehead as she leaned forward, emerald eyes narrowing.

"Ooook; next," Kakashi said quickly, motioning to Sasuke.

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke," the boy started from behind the fingers laced in front of his mouth. "I don't like much and dislike quite a bit. My dreams for the future...no, my _ambition_ is to seek the truth about a certain someone," he said, eyes narrowing. _'...Interesting...'_

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto!" the blonde declared before Kakashi even motioned to him. "And I'm going to be the next Hokage," he continued in a growl, baring his teeth as his eyes narrowed. "And then I'll make everyone respect me." For a moment, Kakashi's eyelid twitched open fully.

"Well ok," he said after a long moment. "Now that we have _that_ taken care of, let's move on to our first team assignment, shall we?"

:

:

Sakura felt sick. She navigated the streets of Konoha on autopilot, emerald eyes downcast and a frown pulling at her pale lips. All the while her stomach churned about, chest tightening.

"Is that you, Sakura?" The pink haired kunoichi started at the voice, blinking as she found herself standing in the door of her home. "Sakura?" the voice called again from further down the hall. A woman's head poked out of a doorway to the left, a frown set into a round, creamy face framed by pink curls. "Oh, it _is_ you," Haruno Sakama continued as she stepped out into the hall, her plump frame covered by a yellow apron. Blue eyes studied her daughter intently. "Is something wrong, sweetheart?" Sakura stared at her a moment longer, then shook her head.

"Sorry mom, I was just thinking about something," she said, slipping off her sandals by the door. Her mother's frown faded into a smile as she nodded her head.

"I imagine you've had quite the day already," she said. "Are you hungry?" Sakura winced at the thought of food.

"No thanks, mom. I think…I'll just go up to my room."

"Ok," Sakama said slowly with a frown. Sakura bounded up the steps to her bedroom before anymore could be said.

She closed her bedroom door and leaned back against it, eyes closing as her head dropped down towards her chest. When she opened them and pushed away from the door, her steps were heavy and ungraceful as she swayed, suddenly feeling exhausted. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of the full length mirror on a wall to her right. She stopped, turning slowly to face her reflection staring back at her from within its glassy confines.

Slowly, she took it all in: the too wide forehead, her not-quite-thin-enough frame which bore none of the curves blossoming on her female classmates. Her face wasn't creamy enough, her lips too thin. That familiar heaviness descended upon her as she stood there, picking apart her reflection, etching every flaw into her mind like so many times before. Thoughts of tomorrow's test, about their new sensei's promise that 66 of the new graduates would fail—everything slipped from her mind as she stared into the dull emerald eyes across from her. Finally she tore her gaze away, stumbling to her bed and flopping down onto her back. She slipped out of time as she lay there, staring at the ceiling.

:

:

"I don't know if I can do this." Words which Hatake Kakashi was not used to saying, and definitely _not_ something an elite jounin should be expressing. In the shinobi world, doubt led to hesitation, and hesitation too often to death. But here, in this company, he felt no shame in bearing his soul. The name carved into the memorial stone kept his secrets well. _'I keep telling them that; I keep saying it's a waste of time, but they keep coming to me time after time' _he continued silently. His lone visible brown eye traced over the name _Obito_.

'_Maybe I'm getting ahead of myself a little bit,'_ he thought after a moment, running a partially gloved hand through the silver locks sprouting more or less upward. _'After all, I haven't even given them the test. In fact, I haven't even _met_ them yet. Then again, I suppose that doesn't really matter.'_ He chuckled behind the blue mask which covered his face from the nose down. _'You should see who they stuck me with this time, though; one of your clansman _and_ sensei's kid.'_ He shook his head. _'And just in case you were wondering, I've never really gotten along with your clan after you gave me this,' _he went on, tapping the lopsided hitai-ite which covered his other eye. Phantom pangs from his own lost eye dueled with the sensation of having something both his and yet not in its place. _'I don't have to tell _you_ what they're like. I've never met the boy, but I'm sure he comes suitably damaged. As far as Naruto…' _he sighed. _'I did what I could, kept him alive, but…well, I'm not you. Caring and nurturing others have never been my strong points.'_ He paused, cocking his head to the side. _'I suppose I don't have to tell you about _that_ either.' _He chuckled again. _'Perhaps I _deserve_ to have both of them end up on the one team I might actually pass.' _In his mind, he fancied he could hear his friend's echoing laughter.

The wind gusted about him, trailing leaves in its wake as he continued to stare at the centograph. Time passed, the world around him shifted, but Kakashi experienced none of it. His mind had transcended the world around him, passing through the path of history, settling into a place where a man with wild blonde hair watched over a loud boy with goggles on his head and a girl with brown marks on her cheeks. The moment didn't last, though. It never did.

'_Well, I guess I should go,'_ Kakashi said at last with a sigh, glancing up at the still rising sun. _'I'm already a couple hours late,' _he continued, returning his gaze to the smooth, gleaming black stone.He stood still for a minute longer, then turned and left, sandaled feet swishing over the grass, the morning dew cool as droplets fell upon the bare portions of his feet.

They were there, waiting for him.

"Good morning!" he called, raising his hand as he approached.

"You're late," he heard Sakura grumble as she rose shakily from where she'd been resting against a tree. Kakashi took in the wrinkled clothes, the disheveled pink hair and the dark rings underneath dull green eyes.

"Do you have any idea how long we've been waiting?!" Naruto followed right after. His stomach rumbled as he spoke, adding a red tint to his whisker marked cheeks.

"Oh?" he asked, tilting his head as he looked up and cupping his cheek. "I could've sworn I was on time….." He shrugged, sliding his backpack to the ground next to a solitary stump. On this he set an alarm clock and set it for noon. "Ok then," he continued, turning as the three graduates came closer. He fished out two bells from his pocket. "Here are the rules…"

:

:

The scratching of quill against parchment lapsed as a knock sounded on Sarutobi's door.

"Enter," he called. The door opened to admit a cat masked ANBU, slashes of red marking the porcelain features.

"Hokage-sama," a male voice said from behind the mask as the ANBU put fist to heart and taking ot his knee. Sarutobi set his pen down and leaned back into his chair.

"Report." The ANBU rose.

"We have finished our investigation, Hokage-sama. There's no evidence to support that someone has told Uzumaki Naruto about the events of thirteen years ago."

"I see," Sarutobi said with a frown.

"Furthermore, there's no evidence to suggest the boy found out about…_it_…by himself. However…"

"Hmm?" Sarutobi prompted with raised brow. The ANBU was silent for a moment.

"We'd be able to get a better idea by having a surveillance team keep an eye on him," he said at last. Sarutobi laced his fingers in front of his mouth, elbows resting on the high backed chair's armrests. _'He has a point. Any evidence worth finding wouldn't be unearthed with such simple measures. Still, the first ten years of Naruto's life underneath a microscope didn't turn up anything to suggest the kyuubi was still a threat. If I allow more now, the council will keep that door open for as long as possible.'_ He glanced at the picture of the past Hokage's lining a wall to his left. _'And if I'm letting my personal feelings get in the way?'_

"No," he said at last, looking back at the ANBU. "Not without something more concrete." The ANBU gave a short nod, but was silent. "What about the other matter I asked you to look into?"

"…That's proving just as difficult, sir," the ANBU said. "The man's movements are erratic at best, and every time we think we have his location pinned down, he appears in another. He has yet to return any of your messages, and it's impossible to tell if he's even received them." Sarutobi sighed.

"Oh I'm sure he's gotten them," he muttered. "Keep searching."

"Yes sir." Another knock sounded at the door.

"That will be all." The ANBU bowed, then turned on his heel and strode over to open the door, revealing a fidgety Iruka. _'He's becoming rather predictable,'_ Sarutobi mused as he waved the teacher in.

"Sorry, Hokage-sama. I didn't mean to interrupt," Iruka said, wringing his hands.

"No worries; we were just finishing up. What can I do for you.\?"

"Well I met with Hatake-san earlier today and…well…"

"You have some concerns," Sarutobi said, rising.

"Uh, yeah," Iruka said, rubbing at the back of his neck. "Not that I doubt your decision, Hokage-sama." Sarutobi chuckled as he came around his desk.

"Well, how about you take me to lunch," he said, clasping the younger man on the shoulder, guiding him towards the door, "and I will tell you a bit about Hatake Kakashi."

:

:

Naruto plunged into the lake with a sizable splash. He grunted through clenched teeth, barely able to keep from opening his mouth to groan at the pain in his rear. _'Thousand Years of Pain, huh?'_ he thought. _'Ingenious!'_ He reached into his weapons pouch and withdrew two shuriken, pushing off the bed of the lake and rising towards the surface. Cocking his arm back, he let the star shaped weapons fly in the direction of Kakashi. His head broke the surface a moment later, and he gasped in air as he watched his projectiles blur towards the book reading jounin….only to be caught with one hand, hooked by the circle in their centers by two fingers. Naruto's mouth dropped open as his kicking legs stalled. He barely remembered to suck in another breath before he sank back beneath the water. _'I guess I have no choice.'_ Gritting his teeth, he brought his hands up and formed the basic seal for drawing forth chakra. He reached deep, past his own well of chakra and into a second, infinitely larger source. The water began to hiss and bubble around him. He felt a burning pain in his stomach as chakra rolled off of him in waves, exploding from his body. The burning reached his eyes.

Naruto broke the connection, and the waves of red chakra dissipated. He could still feel it, though, coursing through his body, filling every muscle, setting his blood on fire. Despite the pain in his belly, a grin tugged at hi lips; it took an effort to keep his mouth closed against the suddenly warm water around him. He touched down on the bottom of the lake again, bending his knees before pushing off. The chakra pushed itself out of his feet without coaxing, blasting him upwards. He broke the surface of the still churning water and continued on, arching through the sky. His feet barely touched dry land before he was darting forward, the fiery chakra once again lending its aid. For the first time since their fight had began, Kakashi looked up from his book. Naruto grinned as he saw the jounin's one eye widen.

"Yah!" Naruto cried as his orange clad arm shot forward, fist clenched tight. Kakashi blocked with his free hand, pushing on the outside of Naruto's forearm and redirecting the punch across Naruto's body. The jounin sidestepped and the blonde shot forward, stumbling a bit before he spun and rushed to attack again. A jumping kick aimed at Kakashi's face went wide as the jounin turned to the side. Naruto landed and spun low to the ground, sweeping his leg out but Kakashi's feet were suddenly just out of reach. With a growl Naruto followed up with a jumping uppercut; Kakashi simply leaned back, letting the fist sail harmlessly by. Naruto aimed a knee at Kakashi's head while in mid-air; Kakashi ducked down and Naruto was lift to spin, landing with his back exposed . Blue eyes widening, he leapt away, turning back around as he did so.

"I see you're learning," Kakashi said, rising from his crouch with his hands clasped together, the first two fingers of either hand pointing straight out. The "seal" made Naruto want to rub his butt. "You're stronger and faster this time around, I'll give you that," Kakashi continued, letting his hands fall apart. His book remained closed in one hand. "But your technique is too sloppy for either of those to do you any good." Naruto ground his teeth together. _'It's still not enough to get a bell?'_ His eyes flicked to Kakashi's waist—and widened as he realized only one remained. _'Where…?'_ He spotted it a few feet away, in the shadow of a lone tree which stood slightly apart from the woods around them. Naruto flicked his eyes back to Kakashi, licking his lips. He didn't seem to notice he had lost one. "Honestly, for someone who wants to be Hoka—" Naruto darted forward, diving for the bell. He grinned at Kakashi as his hand reached for the metallic orb. Then, suddenly, his world was turned upside down as he was yanked feet first into the air.

"What the…" he said, looking up—or was it down?—at the rope tied around his ankles.

"I told you carelessness would be your undoing," Kakashi said. Naruto returned his attention to the ground as Kakashi bent to retrieve the bell. "And also remember this: if it looks to good to be true, it usually is." Naruto growled at the man.

"What's the matter?!" Naruto growled. "Too afraid to fight me without using these little tricks?!" Kakashi sighed.

"This isn't about courage or fear; it's about—" And then a hail of shuriken sweeping in from the side slammed into him and Kakashi fell.

:

:

It looked so innocent, running into them at the restaurant. Sometimes he just amazed himself.

"Iruka, Hokage-sama," Mizuki said with a wave as he approached their table. "What brings you two here?" Iruka gave him one of those sheepish grins, rubbing at the back of his neck.

"Well, uh, actually I was…a little bit worried about Na—about our students who are being tested right now."

"So you're here to put his mind at ease, eh Hokage-sama?" Mizuki said. The older man smiled.

"Something like that."

"In that case," Mizuki said, ducking his head. "Would you mind if I joined you? I've been wandering around restless thinking about the same thing."

"Of course not," the Hokage replied, motioning towards the seat next to Iruka. "I was just about to tell Iruka here about Team seven." Mizuki frowned even as he inched forward on his seat.

"Forgive me, Hokage-sama, but that's the group which includes Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto, right?" The Hokage nodded.

"Indeed. It's led by Hatake Kakashi," The Hokage said, withdrawing a booklet from within his robes. He flipped through the pages for a moment, then turned the book around and passed it over the table. "That's the list of his past students." Mizuki and Iruka both leaned over it, scanning the figures.

"But that's…" Iruka breathed. _'So there still may be a chance for this to work after all,'_ Mizuki thought.

:

:

Sasuke smirked even as Kakashi pushed off of one foot, the older shinobi propelling himself backwards and withdrawing the twinkling bells tied to his waist away from questing fingers. The jounin's arm, raised horizontally to the sky to block Sasuke's downwards kick of moments ago went with him as the other blue gloved hand released the genin's opposite ankle. For a moment, Sasuke hung in mid-air, feet pointed to the sky—and then he was falling, twisting his body about to avoid the meeting of skull on earth. He landed in a crouch upon the forested battle field, littered with kunai and knives and ropes from spent traps which had really done nothing—except allow him to touch one of those orbs which held his fate. _'And this time, I'll get one,'_ he thought, closing his eyes as he focused chakra into them

"You certainly are…different…from the others," Kakashi said as Sasuke rose, eyes opening. The world greeted him in sharp clarity and he darted forward, unable to hold back a smirk as he closed and saw Kakashi's single eye widen as they exchanged glances; saw the individual gray hairs of his brow rise.

Sasuke felt a trill of exhilaration as they fought. He blocked a punch, countered with his own to Kakashi's face. Kakashi hand shot out; Sasuke was ready for it and turned with his arm as Kakashi pushed the strike away, stepping inside Kakashi's guard, shoulder facing chest, knee coming up before thrusting outwards towards the older man's stomach. His eyes trailed after Kakashi over his shoulder as the jounin pivoted to Sasuke's back side, arm coming out to the side in an open handed chop. Kakashi was faster now; more aggressive than their first bout of hand to hand combat. But Sasuke could see it; he could see it all. Soon he would see an opening; a chance to grab a bell. With the sharingan, he could do it; he would remain a genin, he—He saw the blow coming; a punch, thrown faster than any before it. He watched it come with wide eyes, followed that fist in all its immaculate detail right up until it filled his vision. And he could do nothing to stop it. He knew that even as his body finally reacted and moved to get out of the way. The punch froze abruptly, and Sasuke took the opportunity to leap backwards, heart pounding in his ears.

"It's impressive that you've awakened your Sharingan at such a young age," Kakashi said as he let his arm fall and took a step back, relaxing his stance. "But with only one tomoe in each eye, I'm betting your limited to the "all-seeing eye", right?" Sasuke took a deep breathe and let it out slowly. "I'm sure you've realized it, right?" Kakashi continue cocking his head to the side. "You may be able to see everything I'm doing perfectly—but that doesn't mean your body is fast enough to react." Sasuke gritted his teeth. _'So there's still that much of a gap between us.'_ Kakashi sighed. "Well, it looks like we deviated a bit from the lesson, didn't we?"Sasuke frowned, then his eyes narrowed as he tensed, hand straying towards his kunai holster. "Shinobi battle tactic number three: Ninjutsu." Kakashi's hands moved towards each other.

Sasuke's hooked two kunai with a finger through the ring at the end of their handles, drawing them from the rectangular pouches strapped to his leg and flung them forward. The triangular blades sped towards Kakashi who leapt to the side to avoid them, hands forming seals. Sasuke's fingers flew trough his own set, trembling slightly as he pushed them faster than he was used to. _'Katon! Goukakyuu no Jutsu!'_ he declared to himself, helping to form an image of the juts u in his mind as he sucked air into his lungs. He brought his fingers to his lips and pushed the air out of his puffing chest, _throwing_ his chakra laden breath. The air hissed with sudden heat as his breath ignited, passing through a gap between the first two fingers and thumb of his right hand, a stream of crackling flames shooting towards his target, exploding into a grand blaze of reddish-orange light which engulfed Kakashi. He released the jutsu as his wind finally died down and he took in another deep breath as the fireball continued to roar of its own volition for long moments.

As they subsided, Sasuke gazed intently into the last, flickering flames, the thin veil of hazy smoke unable to hide the scorched earth that remained—or the absence of Kakashi. Sasuke tensed, eyes flicking about. _'Where is he?'_ A sweep of the clearing showed nothing; Sasuke was just looking up when he noticed the slight ripple in the earth at his feet.

"Below!" Kakashi's voice exclaimed as his hand erupted out of the ground. Sasuke felt the man's fingers graze his leg as he leapt away, bringing his arms up in front of his face to shield his keen eyes from the dirt and rock which burst out of the earth as the rest of Kakashi's body followed his hand. HE landed a few feet away, mind racing, hands racing back into his weapons pouch—when suddenly another hand burst through the ground, grabbing at his ankle. With a cry, he found himself plummeting down into the ground, dirt and rock giving way as he sunk until only his head remained. He struggled futilely as a second Kakashi crouched down in front of him.

"You're certainly _heads_ above the others in ninjutsu," he said with a chuckle, "but you still have a long way to go." Then he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Shadow clone," Sasuke spat, almost an accusation.

"Mmhmm," Kakashi answered, withdrawing his book and flipping it open. Instead of looking at the pages, though, he glanced to the side. "It appears we've had an audience." Sasuke frowned and followed the direction of his gaze toward a series of bushes. With the sharingan, he caught a brief flicker of pink among the brush as it moved. "If you ask _real _nicely," Kakashi threw over his shoulder as he started away, "I'm sure she'll help you." And then he was gone. Sasuke glared at the spot where the man had disappeared for a moment, then closed his eyes and released his sharingan with a sigh.

He began to wiggle about in his earthy prison, testing its limits. _'It'll be challenging, but doable.'_ His eyes opened at the sound of rustling leaves, drawing his attention back to the bushes as Sakura emerged.

"Uhm…Sasuke-kun?" she said, starting forward cautiously as she looked around.

"He's gone," Sasuke said. She stood up straighter, dusting herself off, and carried on like that for several long minutes. Sasuke's eye began to twitch.

"Hey," he started fidgeting as much as his prison allowed. Her head lifted slightly.

"Y-yeah, Sasuke-kun?" Sasuke opened his mouth, closed it, then repeated the process. Finally he averted his gaze to the side.

"…never mind. You should go."

"Well ok…" Sakura said as she turned to leave. Sasuke watched her out of the corner of his eye as she hesitated, turned back around with her mouth opened, then turned back around and practically fled without saying a word.

By the time Sasuke worked himself free of his subterranean prison, the blaring buzz of the timer was already ringing through the woods.

:

:

Naruto groaned softly as he began to wake. Wincing at the stiffness in his neck as he lifted his head from where it lolled to one side, he opened his mouth wide in a yawn. Eye cracked open, a frown creasing his features as he peered through the blurriness at the world from a standing position. He closed his eyes and shook his head, trying to through off the numbness of a deep sleep which still clung to him. He moved to wipe at his eyes—and realized with a jolt that he couldn't move.

Eyes snapped open, blinking rapidly to clear themselves as he twisted his gaze downward, to the rope which bound his arm to his side and held him against something hard in a standing position.

"What—what's going on here?!" he exclaimed, swinging his head form left to right. Sasuke and Sakura sat to either side of him on the ground, each with a rectangular bento on the ground in front of them. Naruto's frown deepened, then_—he was sitting on a rock, eagerly lifting one of the wrapped rectangular boxes which held their lunches, chuckling at his own cleverness as he reached to unwrap one…._Naruto shook his head as the memory shifted to haze.

"Well well, looks like you're finally awake." Naruto tracked the voice to Kakashi as the jounin stepped away from a nearby tree, crossing over to them.

"What did you do to me?!" Naruto growled as he kicked futilely at the air in front of him, wiggling against his bonds.

"Me?" Kakashi asked, arching his single silver brow. "Well, I just booby trapped the lunches a little bit—just in case someone decided to be sneaky when I wasn't looking." Naruto gritted his teeth, glaring at the jounin.

"Booby-trapped?!" Sakura exclaimed, jumping to her feet beside him. Kakashi waved his hand.

"Relax; they've already been disabled for you and Sasuke.

"Hey, why the hell do they get to—?!"

"I've decided something about the training," Kakashi interrupted. Naruto's words froze on his lips. "There's no need for any of you to go back to the academy." Naruto blinked, glare forgotten.

"Really, sensei?" Sakura asked, taking a step forward. "Does that—does that mean that we….that I…" Kakashi nodded.

"Yup," he said cheerfully. "You guys," he continued, eye narrowing, "aren't cut out to be ninja at all." Naruto realized after a moment that his mouth with hanging open, and hastily clicked it shut as he scowled at Kakashi.

"And what the hell is that supposed to mean?!" he yelled, struggling once again at his bonds.

"It's just like I said," Kakashi replied, hands in his pockets. "You guys are failures."

"Just because we couldn't get some stupid bells?! That's so retarded!" Naruto yelled. From the corner of his eye, he saw Sasuke tense on the ground, though the dark haired boy made no other movement.

"It's not that you didn't get the bells," Kakashi said with a wave of his hand, "It's that you didn't understand the answer to the test at all.

"Answer?" Sakura asked before Naruto could yell anymore. "What answer?" Kakashi just stared for a moment, then shook his head slowly.

"Just tell us the damn answer already!" Naruto yelled.

"…Teamwork," Kakashi said at last.

"Teamwork?" Sakura asked. Kakashi nodded.

"Teamwork," he repeated. "If you had worked together, you _might_ have gotten the bells. Instead…" Kakashi turned and jabbed a finger in Sakura's direction. "Sakura; not only did you neglect Naruto, who obviously needed help, in favor of Sasuke, but when you finally _did_ find Sasuke, you were too scared to do anything except hide and watch. And you, Sasuke," Kakashi said, aiming his finger at the dark haired boy, "You just assumed you could handle me yourself and didn't even bother to think about working with the others. Even when you were just a head in the sand with Sakura right next to you, you couldn't swallow your pride long enough to ask for help." He let his finger drop and turned his narrowed gaze on Naruto. "And _you_," he spat out, "are the worst of them all. Not only did you try and do everything by yourself, but you _deliberately_ sought to sabotage your teammates by eating both lunches. Don't try to deny it; I can see through your intentions." There was a moment of silence, then—

"Naruto!" Sakura exclaimed turning to him and shaking a fist. "Of all the dirty, low down, rotten--!!"

"Are you telling me _you _wouldn't have done the same?!" Naruto snapped at her. "There are only two bells; it's every man for himself!"

"That's…that's…" Sakura sputtered, shaking her head.

"That's the attitude which makes you a failure," Kakashi said. Naruto's head jerked around and he redoubled his gaze at the jounin. _'Who does this guy think he is?!'_ "This test," Kakashi continued, "was designed to see if you could put your own personal affairs aside and work _together_. In the shinobi world, failure to do so leads to dangerous situations, even death. For example..." then suddenly he was behind Sakura, a kunai pressed against the girl's slim neck. "Sasuke! Kill Naruto or I kill Sakura!" Naruto stiffened as Sasuke half rose beside him. He looked down, locking eyes with the other boy, though Sasuke was paying more attention to Kakashi than Naruto. The blonde looked quickly to Sakura, who stood stiff and shaking, skin pale and eyes, then back at Sasuke. Soon, though, Kakashi released the girl and stepped back, holstering the kunai to three relieved sighs. "That's how it is; these are the types of things that happen on a mission. Tough choices have to be made all the time; those who only worry about themselves only complicate things." Kakashi walked past them to a gleaming black stone in the center of the clearing. "This is a memorial stone. It lists the names of the village's heroes—heroes that died while on duty. My best friend's name is on here—killed because his teammate didn't understand the importance of teamwork until it was too late." Kakashi was silent for a long time, staring at that stone. Naruto squinted, but couldn't make out any of the names. "I'll give you one more chance to do it right," Kakashi said, turning. "If you still want to proceed, eat lunch—but anyone who gives Naruto any will fail immediately."

"What?!" Naruto exclaimed.

"_I_ make the rules here; if you want to be a shinobi, you do what _I_ say. End of discussion." And with that, Kakashi turned and leapt away.

Naruto glowered at the ground as he listened to the sounds of Sasuke eating and Sakura stirring her food about it's container, trying to ignore the gnawing sensation in his gut. _'This is so typical,' _he thought, gritting his teeth, _'He's just like all the rest—looking down on me and trying to make my life miserable. Why can't—'_

"Here." Naruto started at the sound of the voice, turning his head slowly to see Sasuke lifting up his bento towards him.

"B-but, Sasuke-kun, you heard what sensei said!" Sakura objected from Naruto's other side. "Besides, don't you remember what he tried to—"

"I don't sense Kakashi, and if Naruto doesn't eat he'll just get in the way. This way, we can work together and get the bells." Naruto stared at the food, then shifted his gaze to meet Sasuke's sidelong glance. Naruto looked back at the food—then brought his knee up sharply, knocking the bento into the air where it twisted and spun, spilling it's contents on the ground.

"What the hell is your problem?!" Sasuke fumed, bolting upright with his fists clenched at his sides.

"I'd rather starve than accept help from an _Uchiha_," Naruto huffed, looking away. Doing so brought him face to face with a gaped mouth Sakura, who had frozen halfway to her feet. Then her eyes narrowed and that all too familiar vain throbbed in her forehead.

"You're a real creep, you know that Naruto?!" she said.

"I told you already!" he growled back, "This is every man for himself. I don't care what that idiot says; teamwork is for sissies who aren't _strong_ enough to take care of themselves!" Sakura's mouth worked up and down several times, her fists clenching even tighter.

"Why you little," she finally breathed out. Suddenly, Naruto realized that if she tried to strike him he had no way of defending himself.

"Let it go, Sakura," Sasuke said. "He's not worth it." Naruto stiffened and returned his glare to the other boy, but Sasuke didn't even meet his eyes as he sat.

"But Sasuke-kun…" Sakura said.

"Hurry up and eat your lunch; you and I will just work together to get the bells." Naruto snorted and looked away again. His stomach rumbled slightly and he squeezed his eyes shut with gritted teeth, forcing back the pangs of hunger shooting through him.

"Here." Same words, different voice; still, they pulled Naruto's eyelids up sharply. He watched as Sakura moved over to Sasuke's side and sat, setting her bento between them. After realizing the words hadn't been meant for him, Naruto averted his gaze, but couldn't help peeking at the other two genin from the corner of his eye.

"You sure?" Sasuke said after a moment. A pause, then;

"Yeah; I'm not—I'm not that hungry, anyway." A loud rumbling noise followed the statement, and Sakura's face turned crimson as she ducked her head. "I mean—I-I weigh less than you and so I don't—I don't need as much and..." Wordlessly, Sasuke retrieved his chopsticks from the ground, brushed them off and began eating. Watching the two, Naruto couldn't help but feel strangely upset.

.

From behind the tree where he had been listening to the commotion of the three genin, Kakashi sighed and shook his head. He peeked around the bark and watched as Naruto fought to ignore his teammates even as his stomach's growl sounded in Kakashi's sensitive ears. _'Well _that_ certainly didn't go as well as I'd hoped,' _Kakashi thought with another shake of his head. _'Still…'_ His gaze wandered to where Sakura and Sasuke where sharing Sakura's lunch.

.

They had just finished eating when Sasuke tensed, half rising as his gaze peered over Sakura's shoulder.

"S-Sasuke-kun?" she asked. Then, with a frown, she twisted around and followed Sasuke's gaze, giving a little yelp of surprise when she found Kakashi standing right behind her.

"You two…" Kakashi said, head cocked to the side. Sakura's breath caught in her throat as his narrowed gaze bore into her. Thin it closed and his mask crinkled up as if he were… _'Is that a smile?'_ "Pass." Sakura started, mouth dropping open. Kakashi was already moving though, leaning down next to Naruto, whispering something in the ear farthest from her. Then a kunai appeared in his hand and binding ropes fell away. The blonde shot one last glare at all of them before turning and marching away. Sakura's eyes followed him dazedly, then moved slowly to Kakashi as his shadow fell over her once again.

"Sensei…" The jounin did that weird thing with his eye and mask once again.

"Congratulations; you two are the first." Sakura blinked, frowning. "The first to pass," Kakashi elaborated.

"But…the bells…" Sakura said, frown deepening. Kakashi reached up to scratch at his silver hair.

"Don't you remember? It was never about the bells. It was about _not_ doing everything I told you to. No one else disobeyed me; they were fools."

"But the rules…we were told that—"

"You were taught that those who break the rules and the ninja code are trash," Kakashi finished for her, "And that's true…to a certain extent. But those who don't take care of their comrades are worse than trash—which is why you two passed, and Naruto failed."

"But we _didn't_ help Naruto," Sakura said. _'What are you, an idiot?!'_ her inner voice screamed, _'Now it really is just you and Sasuke-kun!'_ The thought sent a shiver down her spine—she couldn't tell if it was good or bad.

"Are you _trying_ to talk me out of passing you?" Kakashi asked, arching his brow. Sakura hesitated, then clamped her mouth shut. "All right then!" Kakashi said, flashing them a thumbs up. "That concludes the training! Tomorrow we'll start our duties as Team 7!" Sakura glanced back at Sasuke as they rose, that trill—of what? Apprehension? Excitement? Anxiety? Nervousness? She still couldn't tell—worked its way down her spine once again.

.

.

.

* * *

A/N: Ok, so the idea of how this AU universe might effect Sakura hit me rather suddenly. I tired my best to tie in her new confidence issues with what I already wrote in the first chapter, meaning I tried to make it clear that, in class, it was Sakura's rivalry with Ino which made her so bold but that left to her own devices...not so much. So to those who review this story, I'd appreciate it if you would let me know how well I did in that venture, and how believeable it seems. Also, I tried very hard to stay away from copying events and conversations exactly as they exist in canon--'cause I'm pretty sure that's illegal-- and show only those parts of canon which have been changed due to the AU divergence point--which is why it seems to skip around a little bit. Let me know what you guys think. Well, hope you enjoyed; later!


	5. The Scroll

Chapter 4: The Scroll

"_Whatcha doin'?" Sasuke started, head jerking up from the scroll draped across his lap. Hanging upside down from a low tree branch, hands behind his swaying head, Naruto smirked as Sasuke's slightly widened eyes met his gaze. The other boy's expression quickly hardened into a scowl._

"_How many times have I told you to quit sneaking up on me!" Sasuke growled. Naruto shrugged._

"_What are you doing out here all by yourself?" Naruto asked again. Sasuke held the scowl for a moment longer, then gave a quiet snort and looked back to his scroll._

"_Studying; you should try it sometime," he said._

"_Bor-ing," Naruto said, bending at the waist and grabbing hold of another tree branch, unhooking the backs of his knees from the one on which he hung. He pulled his feet clear, hung for a few moments and dropped to the ground. He turned to Sasuke with a mischievous grin. "Come on; let's go "decorate" the Faces."_

"_Can't right now," Sasuke said._

"_Ah, come on; you'll have plenty of time to study tomorrow." Sasuke's head rose at that, a dark eyebrow arching._

"_You _do_ realize the test is tomorrow, right?" he said. Naruto titled his head to the side with a frown._

"_Oh yeah; that's right," he said after a moment._

"'_Oh yeah'?" Sasuke echoed. Naruto shrugged the blue shoulders of his orange jacket._

"_It's just a test," he said. "Come on; it won't be the first time you've blown off studying."_

"_Maybe next time," Sasuke said._

"_Well….okay then," Naruto said. He hesitated a moment longer, then spun around. "Later!" he threw over his shoulder with a wave, hurrying off._

:

:

_If you're reading this, it means you have finally realized the truth: they_

_will never accept you. It is a bitter lesson, I know. They fear you, and_

_what you can do. What you can become. They try to hold you back_

_because they are jealous. You were not ready to hear this truth when_

_we first met, and I understand. You wanted to change their minds, you_

_wanted to prove them wrong. It was noble of you, better than they_

_deserve. But now it is time to join me, in a place where you will be_

_accepted. You have the power to do something important; to change_

_the world. Don't waste it on fools. You know the way._

Naruto lowered the message; it had been about the twentieth time he had read it. The wind danced through the trees around him as he sat before the old wooden shack and stared at the note. Then he looked to the giant scroll resting next to him. It was a chance, his last chance, to still become a shinobi of the leaf. All he needed to do now was figure out if he still wanted to be.

:

:

It was a heavy kind of silence that permeated the Hokage's office. The _tick-tock_ of the old clock in the corner behind Sarutobi's seat sounded like tiny pinpoint explosions, while each leaf bounding against the window as they followed the wind's trail seemed like a dozen fluttering screeches. The aged man sat in the thick of it, hands folded on desk and his mouth drawn into a thin line, face schooled to impassiveness. No one looking would know that he wanted nothing more than to reach for his pipe.

Across from him, eyes shimmering with barely controlled anger within an otherwise stoic face, sat Uchiha Fugaku. They continued their staring match for a long while.

"You certainly seem to enjoy trampling on our pride," Fugaku said at last.

"The only thing I'm doing is ensuring your son receives the best training possible," Sarutobi said.

"From a thief," Fugaku glowered.

"How many times must we go through this?" Sarutobi sighed. "It was a gift, Fugaku. Let it go."

"So he says."

"And so say his other teammate and his jonin sensei—or do you doubt the words of the Fourth Hokage?"

"You mean the testimony of your hand picked successor?" Fugaku said with a snort. Sarutobi fought the urge to clench his hands together.

"The team assignments are final, I will not change them. Kakashi is as skilled with his Sharingan as any Uchiha I have seen, save maybe—"

"Do not speak that name."

"Very well. The fact remains that Sasuke is Kakashi's student now, and I will not look kindly upon any interference in his training from you or any other of your clan."

"There are Uchiha Jonin that could train Sasuke," Fugaku tried.

"The Uchiha name is not what it once was," Sarutobi said. Fugaku visibly stiffened. "Is there anything else you wish to discuss, Lord Fugaku?"

The door slammed open as the other man opened his mouth and Iruka surged in, stumbling in his haste.

"Hokage-sama!" he shouted as he righted himself.

"Iruka, what are yo—"

"Naruto's run off with the Forbidden Scroll," Iruka panted out.

"Impossible!" Sarutobi said, standing up so fast his chair tipped over. "That scroll is guarded by ANBU!"

"Mizuki saw it, sir. He saw Naruto running away with it."

"Fugaku!" Sarutobi called as the man stood and walked toward the door. "What do you intend to do?"

"This is a job for the Militray Police," he said, looking over his shoulder. "We will apprehend the criminal."

"He's not to be harmed," Sarutobi said. Fugaku left without replying. Sarutobi gritted his teeth and strode out after him."You!" he shouted, pointing to a startled chuunin. "Sound the alarm! Uzamaki Naruto has taken the Forbidden Scroll. Every available shinobi will assist the military police in retrieving it."

"Y-yes sir! Right away, Hokage-sama!"

Sarutobi stepped back into his office to. "Find him."

Iruka nodded and rushed leapt through the window. Sarutobi shut the door and walked back to his desk, righting his chair and grabbing the crystal ball from his drawer.

"Now," he muttered, retaking his seat. "Let's see where you are."

:

:

Sasuke's mother served him breakfast in his room—again. It seemed like she'd been doing that just about every night since he'd started "training" with the military police.

"What do you got here?" she asked, as she cleared space on his desk for the tray she held.

"Old case files," he said.

" 'Understand the why' " she read off one document.

"Officer Tejo's…instructions," Sasuke said as he continued to read, reaching for a rice ball.

"Good instructions," she replied. Sasuke arched a brow at her. "Understanding how a criminal thinks, why they do what they do and how they go about doing it will go a long way to helping you predict their movements and, ultimately, capture them," she said, handing the paper back to him. He glanced at the page, then back at her, then at the page again.

"Must've missed that part," he muttered.

"You need to see beneath the underneath, right?" she said, ruffling his hair. "Don't they teach that at the academy anymore?" Sasuke just glowered and munched on his food.

"Uzumaki Naruto has stolen the Forbidden Scroll," his father said from the door way. Sasuke blinked as he looked over. "I would talk to Sasuke now. Alone," his father continued into the silence.

Sasuke's mother frowned, glancing between the two of them but withdrew, closing the door behind her. "What do you know of this," his father asked as soon as she was gone.

"Nothing," Sasuke said.

"Don't lie to me."

"I'm not," Sasuke bristled.

"If you had a hand in helping him with this stunt—"

"I didn't," Sasuke interrupted, he turned back to his reading, picking up another rice ball.

"Very well," his father said after a long pause. Sasuke didn't look at him as he left. After a slow five count, though, he hurriedly pulled on his sandals and snuck out the window.

The Uchiha compound was on the outskirts of the village, tucked away, it seemed, in its own little corner. Sasuke had never understood why his clan lived in such a remote area, but this night he was glad for it—he only had to take care to avoid his own clansmen, and not the entirety of the village that he was sure was searching for Naruto. What was that idiot thinking? He frowned as he made his way into the forest.

It had been a long time, but he still knew the way. He paused in a tree, listening to the sound of other pursuers in the distance—mighty loud for shinobi—before dropping down into the small clearing, with its old wooden shack resting amidst the trees. And sure enough, there was Naruto, plunked down on the ground and pouring over his pilfered scroll.

"You're such an idiot, Naruto," he said, starting forward, shaking his spiky head.

"What are _you_ doing here," Naruto said without looking up. Sasuke's step faltered and he frowned. _'What _am _I doing here?'_ And he really had no clue, none at all. He hadn't stopped to think before; just acted. He searched about for something, anything, to break the silence that was making him look like a fool.

"Why?" he asked finally.

"What's it to you?"

Sasuke shrugged. "Nothing."

"So why are you here?" Naruto asked again.

"Why'd you take it?" Sasuke shot back.

"Why don't you just answer the damn question!" Naruto shouted, jumping to his feet and spinning around.

"Why don't _you_ answer the question!"Sasuke growled, fist clenching. They traded glares for a long moment.

"Were we ever friends?" Naruto demanded. Sasuke blinked.

"What?" he asked, stunned.

"Forget it," Naruto said, gathering up the scroll and throwing. It hit the ground and rolled, bumping into Sasuke's foot. He looked down at it with a frown. As he looked back up, he noticed the pack for the first time as Naruto picked it off the ground and slung it over his shoulder. "Tell them I don't care if they pass me anymore," he continued, turning to leave.

Sasuke frowned at his back for a moment. What was that supposed to mean?

"Yes." The word came out as a whisper. Naruto stopped.

"Did you know?"

Sasuke frowned. "What are you talking about?"

"What they did to me," Naruto said, turning slightly. His head was bowed, and his free hand touched his stomach. When he did look up, his blue eyes burned with fury. "What the Uchiha did to me," he growled.

"Are you accusing me of something?" Sasuke said, eyes narrowing.

"Answer me!" Naruto shouted. "Or should I just beat it out of you?"

"Like you'd have a chance," Sasuke snorted, automatically stepping back with one foot so his side was turned slightly in Naruto's direction.

"That's it!" Naruto dropped the pack. "I've had it with you Uchiha!" With that he darted forward, closing the distance fast and lunging the last few feet, arms out stretched. Sasuke stepped in, grabbed Naruto by the arm and the front of his orange jacket and spun, letting go and watching Naruto fly through the air. Naruto twisted in mid air to land in a crouch, a low growl rumbling from his throat. His pupils had elongated into slits, and his whisker like birthmarks looked darker, somehow; thicker. Sasuke was taken aback for a second, and then Naruto launched forward, throwing a punch. Sasuke blocked the outside of his arm, spinning close so he ended up facing Nruto's back, which he gave a shove. Naruto stumbled forward, then whirled and threw another punch. Sasuke threw a block with his outer forearm, and turned it into a grasp on the other boy's arm, pulling Naruto in for his own punch. Naruto blocked and grabbed his arm, and the two stood locked there for a moment. Naruto bared too-sharp teeth. Sasuke blinked and relaxed his grip for just a second and Naruto spun, throwing Sasuke over his shoulder. Sasuke twisted in the air to land on his feet, still stumbling backwards from the force when Naruto leapt for him a second time. He let himself fall backwards as Naruto collided, grabbing onto that orange jacket again and rolling himself on top of the blonde, pinning Naruto to the ground as he drove his fist down. Naruto blocked it to the side as his hand shot up, grasping at Sasuke's throat. He leaned back and Naruto took the opportunity to grab at his shirt instead and, bucking wildly, heaved Sasuke over his head. Sasuke rolled away and spun as he came up, trying to catch his breath. Naruto charged at him on all fours, and Sasuke danced backwards, blocking a flurry of punches before dropping down and spinning low, sweeping Naruto's legs out from under him. He lifted his leg up high, foot pointed to the sky as Naruto fell and he came up, letting his heel fall towards Naruto, who rolled out of the way before it landed. A sudden rush of wind and a glimpse of metal in the moonlight were his only warnings, and Sasuke tackled Naruto to the ground; a giant shuriken whipped over their heads. The blur of metal spun past and curved up, looping back into the trees. His sharingan came to life, searching the night for the weapon or its owner. Naruto slugged him in the jaw. Sasuke rolled to the side and came up in a crouch, holding his face.

"Idiot!" he spat. Naruto climbed to his feet and started forward again, only to leap back as the shuriken flashed between them, looping back once more. Mizuki caught the weapon in mid air before landing by the scroll.

"Naruto, Naruto," the chuunin said with a shake of his bandanna covered head. "I give you a scroll of all the village's forbidden techniques and this is how you treat it? What an idiot." He strapped the scroll to his back.

"I don't care about passing anymore, so I don't need it anymore," Naruto growled out, not taking his eyes off Sasuke.

"Naruto," Sasuke muttered, looking between the two as it clicked. "You _are_ an idiot."

"Stop calling me that, Jerk!" Naruto growled. Mizuki chuckled.

"Well well, looks like you live up to your reputation, Sasuke." He began spinning his shuriken around a finger. "It's too bad you showed up here."

Sasuke was already forming seals.

'_Katon! Goukakyuu no justsu!' _he declared to himself as he drew in a big breath and exhaled, lifting his finger to his mouth. The chakra-laden breath ignited into a stream of fire, surging into an ever-expanding ball of flame at its end. The blue haired shinobi leapt up, flipping over the fireball and cocking his still spinning weapon back while Sasuke dropped to one knee. When he felt Naruto's foot on his shoulder he exploded upwards, aiding in Naruto's leap, and reaching for his kunai—except he'd left his holster at home. Cursing as Naruto soared towards Mizuki, he ripped off his forehead protector and whipped it through the air. It spun under Naruto and passed him just as Mizuki unleashed, and weapon hit hitai-ite in a clash of metal. His forehead protector lost, of course, knocked away by the spinning blades, but the shuriken's path altered just enough so that it veered away from Naruto. Barely. Sasuke watched as the weapon sliced through the arm of Naruto's jacket. Naruto slammed into Mizuki fist first, and they plummeted down to the ground. Naruto hit and rolled, came up on his feet, stumbled, then fell on his backside, pressing a hand to his head.

"You little brats," Mizuki said, sitting up and clutching at his face. He peered out between his fingers with a furious brown eye.

"Nobody move!" a voice shouted, and then military police were in the clearing, with more surrounding the area. Sasuke's father was among them. He walked to Mizuki and tore the scroll from him, then stood and swept his gaze over the area. His dark orbs met Sasuke's and held them, narrowing.

"Take them all into custody," he said. Sasuke let his sharingan slip away and held out his hands for the officer who approached him. He suppressed a shudder as his hands were bound with metal decorated with black painted seals and he felt his chakra fading. It was still there, he knew, held just out of reach.

"Get off of me!" Naruto yelled. Sasuke watched as two officers held a struggling Naruto face down in the ground as the other went to put similar bindings on him. Then he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Search the area!" Sasuke's father bellowed.

"Yes sir!" several officers responded before disappearing back into the night. Sasuke stared at the spot where Naruto had been, frowning as the other boy's words played through his head. The MPs got him moving in the direction of the village with a shove and he started walking, grinding his teeth. He glanced back at his father as he did so, narrowing his eyes.

:

:

"What a mess," Sarutobi muttered. He leaned back in his seat and, for the second time in just a few hours, studied Fugaku across his desk. The other man stood this time, still clad in a green flak jacket over a blue uniform with its star marked sleeve. Sarutobi envied him; he was rather tired of sitting himself. "A shadow clone," he continued, shaking his head. "Who would've thought he'd be able to learn such a technique in such a short amount of time."

"We are still searching for him," Fugaku said.

"If he was still in the village, they'd have found him by now," Sarutobi said with a frown, drumming his fingers on the desk.

"I'll have them keep searching," Fugaku said.

"As you wish." Sarutobi frowned at his desk as he continued to drum. "Tell me, Fugaku," he said at last. "How do you think Naruto was able to sneak into one of our most secure areas and make off with the scroll without being seen?"

"Maybe he's more of a threat than anyone realized."

Sarutobi looked up and arched his thin white brow. "Set your bitterness aside for a moment; did Naruto ever strike you as particularly cunning?"

"Appearances can be deceiving," Fugaku said. "But no," he admitted grudgingly. "He must have been working with someone."

"Or he could've been manipulated by someone."

Fugaku gave him a flat stare. "Perhaps," he said through tight lips.

Sarutobi pursed his lips, thinking.

"What did Mizuki have to say?"

"He claims he came across Naruto and Sasuke fighting and intervened in order to recover the scroll."

"And Sasuke?"

"Sasuke went to recover the scroll, and a fight with Uzumaki broke out. Mizuki's appearance surprised him. He overreacted."

Sarutobi leaned his elbows on the table, hiding his mouth behind his hands as he drew his lips into a thin line. He had found the scene with his crystal ball in time to see Sasuke and Naruto's attack on Mizuki. It had been a well coordinated and executed piece of team work. He couldn't call Fugaku's bluff, of course, not without unveiling his third eye anyway. Was he protecting Sasuke because the boy had been part of the theft? Is that why he and Naruto had teamed up against Mizuki? Could Fugaku have orchestrated the theft? He considered that for a moment, but if Fugaku had, to what end? The military police had promptly returned the scroll—when it would have been easy to keep it and blame its disappearance on the runaway Naruto. Had the Uchiha somehow found out about the artifact he kept? Had they known he would be watching, and sought to lull him into a false sense of security? If only he had found them sooner. Useful though it might be, the crystal was far from perfect. Sarutobi resisted the urge to sigh. Those possibilities weren't even the most distressing raised by the night's events.

"Very well," he said at last. "You may release them both."

Fugaku nodded, turning to leave.

"One more moment, please," Sarutobi decided as the other man was reaching for the door. Fugaku turned. Sarutobi eyed him for moment, still debating.

"I want you to head up the investigation into this matter," he said at last. A hint of surprise marred the Uchiha's stoic features. He approached again slowly, a slight frown tugging down the corners of his mouth.

"I'd need to interview the ANBU on duty when the scroll was stolen," he said slowly.

"As soon as possible," Sarutobi said. "But," he continued, holding up a finger, "you will do so in my presence.

"As you wish. Also, a record of his finances and his personal file."

"You'll have them."

"No interference from ANBU."

"Agreed," Sarutobi nodded. "Anything else?"

"Sasuke's team has a vacancy," Fugaku said with a pointed look. Sarutobi's eyes narrowed.

"Hardly seems relevant."

"I choose his third team member."

Sarutobi gritted his teeth. He'd known there would be a price for Fugaku's cooperation. He'd been hoping he could distance Sasuke from the influence of his wayward clan. He had a promise to keep, after all. But he also had a duty to Konoha.

"You may submit a candidate list," Sarutobi said. "But I will have the final say."

Fugaku paused, then said "It'll do." He gave a short nod and left.

Sarutobi stood after the door closed, stretching to the sound of popping joints and the groan of tired muscles. He tossed off his hat and dug his pipe out of his top drawer, lighting it as he walked over to the window. A faint whisper of wind announced the cat masked ANBU whose reflection appeared in the moonlit glass, slipping in through a window on the other side of the room. He had foregone the black cloak that some chose to wear, revealing a dark blue uniform that left his shoulders and upper arms bare under a gray flak jacket. He raised a blue gloved hand to his chest and bowed his spiky brown head.

"Hokage-sama," he greeted. Sarutobi nodded and waved him closer. "It won't sit well, one of our own being investigated by someone else," the newcomer said, coming to stand behind and slightly to the right of him.

"No, I don't suppose it will," Saurtobi said, biting down on his pipe and shaking out his match. "I need to know what happened tonight, and you ANBU are too tight knit. This requires an outside eye."

"But why him?" the ANBU said, coming to stand beside him.

"Because he might be involved," Sarutobi said with a shrug.

"Keep your enemies closer," the ANBU chuckled, belying the frown painted on his mask. The white cat face was decorated with red crescents on the outside of each eye whole and had four talon like green slashes on the forehead and cheeks. "Sly."

Sarutobi's grin was tired.

"Occasionally." He turned slightly. "You're one of the few I know I can trust," he continued. "I need you to find Naruto."

"Might be tough by myself."

"Such is life," Sarutobi chuckled humorlessly.

"Indeed, Hokage-sama," the ANBU said, bowing again. He slipped back out of the window.

"I wonder if they'd use the door more if I was on the first floor," Sarutobi mused, opening his own window and leaning out into the night. He felt old; brittle bones under sagging skin that still managed to be too thin. "Where have you gone?" he sighed to the wind.


	6. Waves

A/N: So, for those who have already read this chapter, and will no doubt wonder why the update date has changed without a new chapter being added, I rewrote the attack by gato's thugs. I was never really happy with how I wrote it the first time, and I just couldn't leave it. That's it really. For those who haven't read this chapter yet, well, don't worry about it. Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 5: Waves

"_It's awfully late to be wondering the woods; you could get lost in the dark." _

_Naruto yelped at the explosion of sound interrupting the soft rustle of leaves in the nighttime wind. He scrambled to his feet, stumbling through a turn._

"_You!" Naruto shouted, thrusting his finger at the black-cloaked figure before him. With his other hand, he wiped at the tears staining his whisker mark cheeks. "What's the big idea, sneaking up on me!"_

"…_You're an odd one," a man's voice said from the cloak's deep hood._

_Naruto's blue eyes narrowed and his fist clenched into fists._

"_What are you talking about?"_

"_Most kids approached by a stranger in the woods might show a little…fear."_

_Naruto snorted and crossed his arms over his dirty white t-shirt._

"_I'm not afraid of anybody."_

"_So I see," the figure said, stepping closer. Naruro flinched, but then gritted his teeth and refused to give ground. "That is good; your courage will serve you well, Uzumaki Naruto."_

"_Who are you?" Naruto demanded, trying to peer up into the hood. The face within remained a mystery though._

"_A friend," the man continued. "I know why you come here."_

"_Oh yeah?" Naruto said._

"_To escape their eyes."_

_Naruto's eyes widened and he took a step back, then advanced with a scowl._

"_What do you know?"_

"_I know why they look on you with such anger; why they turn their backs on you." The man said. Naruto froze, his mouth hanging open. "I can show you."_

"_What?" Naruto heard himself saying._

"_I can show you," he repeated. "If you have the courage to see it."_

"_I'm not afraid," Naruto growled automatically._

"_Very well then," the man said, stepping forward and placing a hand on Naruto's blonde hair. Naruto's heart thudded in his ears, but he forced himself to stand still. "Close your eyes." Naruto hesitated for a moment before doing so. And then he became aware of a persistent drip. His head started to turn in the drips direction, but then he stopped himself and squeezed his eyes shut tighter. _Drip. Drip. Drip. _Naruto ground his teeth together. _Drip. Drip. Drip. _Naruto's brow furrowed._

"_Whatever you're going to do," Naruto growled, opening his eyes. "You better…" He found himself standing in a hallway. Naruto blinked as his eyes adjusted to the dim, flickering lights that illuminated the pipes hanging from the ceiling—it was from one of those that water pooled in a crack before dropping down. He followed the droplet past the bland white walls, watching it drip into the puddle of water sloshing around his sandals. Naruto lifted his foot up to shake the water off and noticed that the puddle of water continued down the tile floor as far as he could see._

"_We are inside your mind," the man said, stepping up beside him with a flap of his cloak._

"_My mind?" Naruto looked around, but there wasn't that much more to see._

"_More or less. This way." The man started down the hall. Naruto glowered at his back, but followed. The hallway soon opened into a much larger room, though it was just as bare—save for the giant gate taking up the entirety of the far wall. In fact the gate _was _the wall, and it looked more like a prison cell than a gate with bars almost as thick as he was, and much taller than even the man standing next to him. In the very center of the gate, where the two doors met, was a strip of paper that read "seal"._

_Naruto frowned. "What is this?"_

"_This is the reason you're so despised."_

_Naruto raised his brow and opened his mouth—and something moved on the other side of the cage. Naruto peered through the bars curiously, just able to make out a dark shape. He crept closer, and the shape began to take on a more identifiable form. Something swished against the bars and he frowned. Was that a tail? Naruto shook his head. It couldn't be; it had been bigger than—_

"_AHHH!" Naruto screamed, leaping backwards as a gigantic face appeared before him, black lips opening as wide as a cave to reveal teeth that were at least as big as him. Red fur bristled on the creature's face as it pushed its snout against the bars, and ferocious red eyes peered out from the black fur slashing through the red._

"_YOU!" The voice boomed, making Naruto cry out and grab at his ears. "HOW DARE YOU!" the creature boomed again, and an equally gigantic body thrashed against the bars with a howl that pierced right through Naruto and suddenly he couldn't breathe, could barely move. The air turned to steel, encasing his limbs so they could no longer respond to his terrified commands to move, forcing him to the ground. His throat was tight, and his vision began to blur, darkness creeping into his field of view and—Suddenly he could breathe again. Naruto gasped in sweet air down his raw throat. The cloud in his head was slowly fading and as his vision cleared he found himself back in the forest, cheek pressed into the blades of grass he clenched with his hands._

"_W-what," the words came out in a hoarse whisper, stuttering through dry lips. He flopped over on his back, trying to calm his hammering heart._

"_Eight years ago," a voice said. Naruto strained to lift his head up to look at the man. "This village was attacked by a nine-tailed demon fox. In order to stop the demon fox, the Fourth Hokage sealed it into a new born baby boy, thus sacrificing the child for the good of the village." Naruto shakily pushed himself to a sitting position. The man's hood turned directly towards the blonde. "You are that child."_

"_That," Naruto said. "You…" Naruto's stomach burned. He pulled up his t-shirt to find a black ring of symbols burned into his skin around his navel. He touched the symbols—and the image of the fox flashed through his mind, along with a remnant of its murderous intent._

"_That's why they will never accept you," the man said. "You are the demon fox."_

"_No…" Naruto whispered, shaking his head._

"_Are you afraid?" Naruto looked up, eyes wide, and gulped back his denial._

"_You don't have to be," the figure knelt in front of him. "I can teach you to control it; show you how to tame the fox's powers. You can become more powerful than any shinobi." He held out his hand. Naruto stared at it for a moment. Then he slowly took it and there, among the trees and the beaten down old shack where he had tried to hide from loneliness, he finally found someone who acknowledged him._

:

:

Sakura found herself thinking about Naruto a lot recently. It had been weeks since the boy had left, though by now everyone knew the circumstances surrounding his departure. She thought about who he had been, a loud mouth braggart whose skills never matched up, always prattling about becoming Hokage. Yet there had been something about him then, despite the fact that he generally been disliked by all; there had been a smile. A smile that endured through all the teasing and insults, that endured through all the times she had rejected him. And then she though about who he had become in the months leading up to his flight from the village, when the smiles had stopped. All the bragging and struggling and trying to prove himself—and sometimes, she thought, trying to impress her—had stopped.

Sakura gave a start as she slipped out of her thoughts, green eyes focusing on the bridge in front of her. She frowned, trying to remember the walk from her house to their team's daily meeting place and couldn't. She didn't dwell on it too much, though; she'd been doing that a lot lately, too. She continued forward, feeling a flutter start in the pit of her stomach, hoping that they wouldn't be there, but knowing there was no good reason why they wouldn't be. And sure enough, there they were. Her eyes were drawn to Sasuke first, of course, leaning against the railing with his arms crossed over his blue clad chest and his head bowed, eyes closed. The wind ruffled his spiky black hair and her heart started beating faster, while the flutter in her stomach grew stronger. She resisted the urge to run over to him as her eyes moved to the other person leaning her arms on the railing next to Sasuke. Their new teammate, as Sakura still thought of her despite the fact that she had been with them for the past couple weeks, turned to look at her with dark brown eyes as Sakura approached; they passed over her and back to the water without pause. Sakura clenched her fist as she felt her blood pump harder, but then she looked at Sasuke and the anger bled away with a sigh. Once again she was reminded that the black clothed girl was the reason Naruto was in her thoughts so often. Looking at her, Sakura understood why Naruto's smiles had faded, understood the complete and total emptiness that must've filled his stomach as it did hers, knowing that no matter how hard he tried his dreams would never be a reality.

The newcomer's name was Uchiha Yumiko, and she was Sasuke's betrothed.

:

:

"Are you sure they're ready?" the Hokage asked him from behind the long table covered with neatly organized piles of paper. Next to him sat his chuunin assistant—Iruka, today. Kakashi tried to ignore his glare.

"No," he replied with a shrug. "But they need it." Iruka snorted, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms over his green vest. The hokage frowned slightly as he studied Kakashi.

"Very well," he sighed at last. "I think I have a suitable mission for your team."

"Hokage-sama, you can't be serious," Iruka said. "They're fresh out of the academy; a C rank mission is too much."

"Actually, only two of them are fresh out of the academy," Kakashi pointed.

"Only?" Iruka said. Sarutobi held out a hand to forestall any more objections. Iruka shook his head, glowering.

"How is your new charge?" the Hokage asked.

"In some ways she's more advanced than the others, I suppose," Kakashi shrugged, "and she has… some notion of teamwork." The Hokage raised his brow, but Kakashi opted not to continue.

"Very well," the elder shinobi said, motioning to the chuunin posted at the door. Kakashi looked over his shoulder as another chuunin opened the door to admit a stumbling man in wooden sandals, white shorts and a plain gray shirt with the sleeves torn off. Glasses slipped low on a tanned nose as the man righted himself, tugging at the cord that held his wicker hat on his back. His other callused hand held a bottle of sake, which he promptly drank from.

"Ish about time," he said, wiping droplets of the alcohol from his gray mustache and goatee.

Kakashi looked back at the hokage with a questioning eye. Was that a smile the old man was hiding behind his hands?

"This is Tazuna," the Hokage said, "and he has a mission that I think would fit your purpose nicely." Kakashi looked back at Tazuna as the other man burped and patted his stomach, sighing softly beneath his mask.

Sometime later, Kakashi stood back and dusted off his hands, studying the two black-cloaked shinobi who he had just lashed to a tree. Framed by black manes of hair, their forehead protectors named them shinobi of the mist, and the breathing masks covering their mouths and noses were characteristic of kirigakure. The horns adorning their hitai-ite brought familiarity to his lips. The Demon Brothers maybe? He cocked his head to the side; the name sounded right. His eyes shifted to Sakura, clutching an injured arm, then moved on to Tazuna, who seemed to have sobered up rather quickly once the fighting had began as the old man stared at their would-be murderers. He'd dropped his bottle of sake; it lay forgotten at his feet, pooling its contents into the earthen trail. Kakashi sighed again.

"Tazuna, may I have a word?"

:

:

The voices abruptly ceased as Fugaku stepped into the secret meeting room beneath the Naka shrine and the heads of the Uchiha council turned to look at him. The most influential shinobi of the Uchiha clan had gathered, six in all, seated on the hardwood floor in a circle upon plain white cushions.

"There was no meeting planned for today," he said, pausing at the edge of the circle. He looked about at the gathered faces slowly. Longhaired Inabi, the youngest of them, didn't meet his gaze, though brown haired Tekka did, for a moment. Yakumi met his gaze levelly enough, cool dark eyes and pale face impassive, though he did reach up to touch the knot of hair he'd made on top of his head. Yashiro sat with his ever present frown creasing the leathered skin around his beady eyes, lanky arms crossed over his green jacket and puffing on his cigarette—and a tad bit faster than he usually did.

"We didn't want to interrupt your errand for the hokage," Teijo said bluntly, meeting Fugaku's stern gaze with a fierce one of his own.

"I think what Teijo-san means," Garui, sitting at the head of the circle, said "is that we wished to avoid any more notice from the hokage. We meant no disrespect; please, join us." Garui rose, tall and lean with a long tail of brown hair brushing the back of his blue kimono as he moved to a vacant cushion and offered Fugaku his rightful place as clan leader. Fugaku nodded in thanks, forcing his jaw to relax as he moved forward, keeping his dark eyes fixed on the stone tablet affixed to the far wall, illuminated by twin torches on the stone floor. He glanced down at the cushion, placed right before the dividing line between wood and stone, then turned and surveyed the gathered men once more before seating himself.

"It is unfortunate that my time has been occupied as of late," Fugaku said.

"We all understand the need to keep up appearances for the time being," Yakumi said. Tekka and Inabi nodded; Yoshiro blew a puff of smoke and Teijo huffed.

"Indeed," Garui said, nodding as well. "Though this…errand does present an interesting opportunity."

Fugaku snorted. "Sarutobi is no fool. He gave me this task to keep an eye on me; we shouldn't trust anything gleaned from my observations."

"Maybe not," Tekka said, "But none of us have been this close to the Hokage since…" he trailed off at Fugaku's glare.

"Perhaps," Fugaku said after a moment.

"Bah," Teijo said, taking a swig from a sake bottle. "He's right, we can't trust anything he gives us." He locked eyes with Fugaku, narrowing his dark orbs so his wrinkled brow furrowed even more. "Can't trust it at all."

"Clearly," Garui said before Fugaku could respond, "a quick takeover is impossible now. We've lost the element of surprise."

"Then I say we take it by force," Teijo growled.

"Our loses would be heavy," Yakumi said. "I would not advise that course of action just yet."

"We all know the risks," Yoshiro interjected, stabbing his finger into the ground. "But the clan is restless. If we don't do something soon, some young, good meaning idiots are going to take it upon themselves."

"Young doesn't mean hot-headed!" Inabi exclaimed.

"Peace," Tekka said, "You know Yoshiro's right—we need to show the rest that we haven't given up."

"And that's why we're here," Garui said, looking to Fugaku. "To discuss options."

"In the future," Fugaku said, "if I am not available, Mikoto can sit in for me." Teijo let out a half snort, half laugh as he took another swig.

"Of course, Lord Fugaku," Garui said, bowing his head. Fugaku studied him for a moment.

"Very well. Options," he said. "Report."

:

:

"He's not moving," Sasuke said, peering around a tree at the man standing in the middle of the clearing, the muscles rippling along his pale torso covered only by a single leather strap which held a giant sword to his back. Sasuke could still make out its broad end with the hole in the middle jutting out from behind the mist shinobi's baggy camouflaged pant leg.

"Which one?" a voice asked a little ways behind him.

"Neither," Sasuke said, his eyes moving from the water clone to its creator standing on top of the water, one hand stuck into the giant, swirling bubble that currently imprisoned Kakashi. For a moment, Sasuke was drawn to the silver haired man's open sharingan eye and he couldn't help but frown. The story behind that would have to wait, though. There was a soft rustling in the foliage as someone joined him and he glanced to the side.

Uchiha Yumiko crouched behind a tree next to him, peering out with her own dark brown eyes at the situation. The wind tugged at her blonde streaked black hair, gathered up and clipped to the back of her head, save for the broad tail that looped back down to brush at the high collar of her sleeveless black vest. Sasuke didn't know what fates had arranged for her to be on his team after all this time of…well, not avoiding her, really. He had never cared to spend any time with her though.

"Looks like he's not going to take the bait," she said.

"He's a jonin," Sasuke said, shaking his head. Though he had to admit, with gritted teeth, that her plan to "escape" into the trees and wait for Zabuza to drop his guard had been a good one. He certainly hadn't thought of anything so far.

"Paralyzation might give us a chance to free Hatake."

Sasuke very carefully kept his eyes on the enemy.

"You don't know how," she said after a moment. Sasuke tensed but remained silent. Kanashibari no Jutsu was a D-ranked technique that casued temporary paralysis, though he doubted many genin could use it effectively—which didn't matter anyway since he didn't know it. Yet another part of his military police training officer Teijo hadn't gotten around to yet.

"Would it matter?" Sasuke asked.

"It might've worked on the water clone…." Yumiko trailed off.

"Maybe we should just do like Kakashi-sensei said and run away," Sakura said from behind them. "He can handle it…right?"

Yumiko cocked her head to the side, frowning thoughtfully.

"Forget it," Sasuke said. "We lost that option when Kakashi got captured."

"I guess," Yumiko sighed after a moment.

"Sakura, protect the old man," Sasuke said. Then, without looking back, he started forward.

"Impulsiveness is not exactly an endearing quality," Yuiko scowled as she joined him.

"So stay behind," he shrugged. He stopped at the tree line. "And give me your fuuma shuriken," he said. Yumiko raised her brow, but did so. Sasuke pulled his own from his pack.

"Get ready."

"Ready for wh—Sasuke!" she hollered as he ran forward.

:

:

Haku watched with mixed feelings as two of the Konoha shinobi broke from the cover of the trees. He watched through the holes of his stolen white hunter-nin mask as the male leapt into the air and let fly with a fuuma shuriken. The large weapon spun at Zabuza's water clone, turning over in the air and, at the last second, swooping around the clone and heading for Zabuza's real body. The jounin snatched it right out of the air—only to reveal a second shuriken hidden in the shadow of the first. Haku saw Zabuza prepare for a leap, only to have the shuriken suddenly reverse direction and sweep back in towards the water clone. It turned, preparing to block with its giant blade—only to be struck from behind by the hail of shuriken launched by the black haired female who came barreling out of the forest. The clone burst into water at the first wave and the second trio spun towards Zabuza. He used his captured fuuma to knock them into each other—but the kunoichi was forming hand seals and, lifting her black-gloved hands to her mouth, blew fire over her bare fingertips. The fire ignited the wires connecting those fingers to the shuriken, racing forth. When the trails of fire met the tangle of shuriken, they joined in a small flare, blazing right in front of Zabuza's eyes. The male shinobi, having recovered his fuuma, threw it again, right at Zabuza's head. Haku tensed, preparing to intervene, then forced himself to stay hidden away in his tree. Zabuza dodged to the side a moment later, pulling his hand free from his water prison technique—and just like that, the sharingan user was back in the fight. Haku studied the man with his one sharingan eye, as well as the two children who had just freed him, noting the red and white fan of the Uchiha clan emblazoned on both of the latter's backs. He frowned beneath his mask, but returned his attention to the renewed struggle between jonin. He already knew something of the sharingan, but it never hurt to be thorough.

After the battle, Haku took Zabuza's "corpse" as far as he dared before laying the larger man down in the soft grass and removing the senbon needles from his neck, thus ending his death like state. Zabuza coughed weakly as he struggled back to consciousness.

"Did….you…get it…this time?" he wheezed out.

"We shouldn't be here," Haku said. "We…"

Zabuza turned his brown glare onto Haku.

"Did you get it?" he said, a little stronger this time. Haku sighed.

"He was skilled with his sharingan, but he lacks the subtlety of mastery."

"So you got it."

"I believe I understand the basic powers of the shraingan, yes."

"What luck," Zabuza let out a half cough, half laugh, forcing himself up on wobbly arms.

"You really shouldn't move right now," Haku said.

"What luck," Zabuza repeated in a rasp, tugging at the bandages on his face to reveal a narrow jaw and pointed teeth as he gasped. "A sharingan user, right into my hands. Find out a way to counter it."

"Of course, Zabuza-san," Haku said. Zabuza let himself fall back into the grass, staring up at the sky, a wicked smile carved on his face. Beneath his mask, Haku frowned.

:

:

A day or so after his battle with Zabuza, Sakura watched Kakashi walk up a tree. Without using his hands. While he was on crutches.

"Just like that," Kakashi said after explaining the process. Sakura stared at him in amazement. It was a simple application of chakra, in theory anyway. But to able to do anything with chakra so soon after suffering a collapse due to chakra exhaustion was impressive, to say the least. Kakashi-sensei was turning out to be pretty cool after all. Sakura chewed her lower lip, looking at the tree in front of her. _Concentrate chakra in the soles of my feet…_ She closed her eyes and made the proper hand seal, summoning her chakra and focusing it. She wiggled her toes as she felt the power settle in. Sakura pulled a kunai out of the ground and, following Kakashi-sensei's advice, broke into a run. She reached the tree and began to run at a tilt for a few steps until she was running perfectly perpendicular. She lost herself in the challenge of maintaining a steady flow of chakra at a constant strength to her feet, taking care to disperse it evenly—all the while making sure her feet kept up a steady pace. Before she knew it, she was halfway up the tree, then a little bit farther up, then a little farther still. She felt her chakra shift slightly and her next step was onto a branch. She marked the tree, then sat down on the branch, breathing heavily through her smile.

"Look, Sasuke-kun!" she shouted, giggling. "I did it!"

"See, Sasuke; it shouldn't be that hard," a voice said. Sakura blinked, turning her green eyes over to the tree next to her—and up, to see Yumiko perched on a branch a few feet up, hugging one knee to her modest breast and letting the other one dangle. Her black pants were slightly baggy, save where they hugged her slender hips and shins, and the thighs where her kunai holsters where strapped. Sakura looked down at Sasuke, crouching at the ground and frowning up at his own tree. He'd made it about halfway up. Sasuke shook his head, backed up and, without sparing either of them a glance, tried again. He made it up a few more feet this time. Yumiko sighed and shook her head. And she was supposed to be his fiancé? Sakura glared at her, then turned and cupped her hands to her mouth.

"You can do it, Sasuke-kun!" Of course, her scream came in the middle of his third attempt, and he didn't even make it as far, stumbling up the trunk.

"At least try to _fall_ gracefully," Yumiko called, shaking her head Sakura narrowed her eyes at the other girl again, though warmth bloomed in her cheeks.

"All right you two," Kakashi called. "Talking isn't part of the training, you know."

Yumiko shrugged and stood, then jumped to Sakura's tree, and then back to hers as she descended, zigzagging between hers and Sakura's until she reached the ground. Sakura followed suite, dropping to the ground and turning to fix another glare on her teammate, but Yumiko was already walking away. Sakura's next two attempts at tree walking yielded less than impressive results; her chakra came too strong, cracking the bark and propelling her away from the trunk. She kept looking at Yumiko, waiting for her to say something but the other girl didn't take any notice of her. Sakura fumed all the more, and threw herself into the training.

Finally, when it had grown dark, Yumiko dropped down from the tree, looked up to where she had last reached, then turned and left towards old man Tazuna's house where sensei was already waiting. She was breathing somewhat heavily. Sakura waited until she was gone before collapsing at the base of her own tree, folding her hands over the red stomach of her white-fringed dress. Her legs shook, even lying down; dirt and scratches marred her pale skin all the way from her sandals to the tear in her snug black shorts from one particularly close call. And her only consolation was that she hadn't left first. She smiled slightly, though it was short lived as she looked over to where Sasuke was still going strong. He had made some significant progress for when they'd started, though he wasn't up to where her and Yumiko had reached. Yumiko…she was good, Sakura had to admit. Though she had eventually passed up the other girl with her superior chakra control, it hadn't been by much—and if her current state was any indication, Yumiko had much more stamina than she did. But she certainly didn't act like Sasuke's fiancé. And he didn't act like hers. If Yumiko hadn't called him her betrothed when she first joined the time, Sakura never would've known. But they were, and it didn't matter how many battles she won, he would never notice—

"I'm going back," Sasuke spoke into her thoughts. She started, looking up as he stood before her in the moonlight, dirty and scratched, dirt smeared and with twigs tangled in his black locks. She looked into his tired, dark eyes and suddenly there was nothing else, no sight or sound of the forest. There were only those pools of darkness that gazed down at her, meeting her gaze for what felt like the first time. Had she really been so busy fighting with Ino that she'd never noticed? Or was this really the first time he had purposefully met her gaze? Then the moment was broken as he took a few steps away. "You coming?" he threw over his shoulder. Sakura tried to follow.

"Maybe in a little bit," she said, holding back a groan as she fell back against the tree. Sasuke sighed and came back to her, holding out his hand. She stared at it, frozen. Sasuke sighed again and reached down, grabbed her shoulders, and tugged. Sakura let him pull her to her feet and lead her through the forest. She held onto one of his arms for support, glancing at him through pink bangs, waiting for him to pull away. He didn't, and Sakura closed her eyes, fighting back tears even as a smile pulled at her lips.

:

:

Haku hesitated, and Gato died. He lurched back from Zabuza's bed, fingers clutching at the kunai embedded in his throat before falling, dead, to the ground of their forest hideout. With a cry, Gato's bodyguards sprang forward, beginning to draw their katanas. With a rustle of his long blue kimono Haku blurred into motion, moss-green skirt fluttering as he glided forward on his wooden sandals, obi sash trailing behind him. He snatched the swords out of the rouge samurai's hands and stopped between them, swords held at the thugs' throats. The muscular tan man with his eye patch and spiky patches of brown hair nearly slit his own artery as he jerked to a halt. The other one with the purple jacket and dark blue hat was able to hold a little bit steadier.

"I suggest you two consider your position carefully," Haku said quietly. "Die here, or claim your former boss's place and rule the gang."

The two looked at each other and then, slowly, retreated. Haku waited until they were at the door before tossing them their swords. The one in the hat snorted.

"Was paying us enough, anyway," he said, sheathing his blade. The other one just glared at them with his good eye before following his partner out the door.

"Should've killed them," Zabuza growled.

"Those two will soon have the whole gang fighting amongst themselves for control—which means they won't be bothering us," Haku said. He brushed one of the long tendrils of black hair framing his forehead protector with its scratch marked mist symbol, coming to stand over Gato.

"Still should've killed them," Zabuza snorted. Haku let the words pass, glancing down at the former crime lord.

"It's a good thing you got a down payment."

"Doesn't matter," Zabuza said. "We got something much more valuable. Have you figured out how to beat the sharingan yet?"

"I'm still working on it," Haku said, careful to keep his smooth face impassive. He wished he had his mask.

"I want it done within a week," he said.

"Our benefactor is dead," Haku said. "There's no point in killing the bridge builder now."

"I could care less about that old fool," Zabuza spat.

"We were told not to interfere with Konoha—"

"Have you forgotten what you are, Haku?" Zabuza said, turning to him with a glare. "You are _my_ tool, nothing else."

"Of course, Zabuza-san," Haku said, bowing his head with the white ball that held the rest of his hair at the back and clasping his hands before him.

"Don't forget it," Zabuza said.

"Of course not Zabuza-san. I live to serve you." The words, once so faithfully uttered, made a frown tug at his lips. He smoothed it quickly.

"Good, now get to work. And clean up that mess."

Haku nodded and got to work moving the body.

:

:

It was the sixth day of training, and Sasuke still hadn't reached the top. He'd even used his sharingan to watch Sakura, who had reached the top of her tree the other day, and he thought he saw how she molded her chakra. Unfortunately, his chakra seemed to move more unpredictably. Gentle rays of morning sunlight broke through the trees, alighting on his dirt smudged face as he gazed at the tree in front of him with a frown, following the slashes marring the bark as they worked their way up and up. Despite the added challenge of training in the dark—alleviated somewhat by his sharingan—he'd made much more progress this time around. Yumiko hadn't been around to berate him, after all. Sasuke huffed and shook his head; just the thought of the woman got under his skin and he couldn't imagine spending the rest of his life with her. Silently he cursed his father for the arrangement—and cursed himself for not being able to find a way out of it.

"Agh," Sasuke grunted, running a hand through his hair, more matted now than spiky, and tried to banish the thought of women and betrothal from his mind. Sakura had told him he'd needed to be calm. Well, not told him, exactly. But he had overheard her talking to herself about it one day during training and...Sasuke frowned. Had she known he was listening? Was she trying to catch his attention again? He hoped not; if there was anything good about having Yumiko around, it was Sakura not following him around like a puppy any more. But maybe he'd made a mistake, helping her back to the old man's house that one night; given her some "sign" that he was interested. Women were always reading too much into things, after all. Sasuke massaged his forehead with his free hand.

"Focus," he breathed out, twirling the kunai lazily in his other hand. It was then that he became aware of another presence in the woods around him. He turned, looking around slowly. "Show yourself," he called.

"I apologize," the girl that stepped out of a tree to her right said, bowing. Long black hair tumbling over slim shoulders covered by a red fringed pink kimono, decorated with plum colored swirls. "I didn't mean to startle you."

"It's awfully early to be sneaking around the forest," Sasuke said.

"Indeed," the girl said, looking up with large dark brown eyes and a soft smile. A black choker encircled her neck. "I come out here to collect herbs." Sasuke noted the wicker basket she held before her white obi sash with both hands. "May I ask what has you up so early?"

Sasuke nearly told her to mind her own business, then paused and took a deep breath. Just because the women in his life were pains didn't mean he had to snap at this one. Which sounded like something his mother would've said.

"Tree climbing," he said at last.

"I see. You…that bandanna…" she said, tilting her pale face slightly to the side. "You wouldn't happen to be a shinobi…would you?" He gave a short nod. "And that crest…" the girl continued. "Is that…the Uchiha crest?"

"I didn't expect anyone around here to recognize it," Sasuke said, studying her a little closer.

"We may not have our own shinobi village here in the land of waves, but we're not completely ignorant. I've heard the Uchiha are among the strongest of shinobi clans."

"Yeah," Sasuke said softly, turning back to the tree. "The strongest." And yet he couldn't reach the top.

"I see. Would you mind terribly if I asked you a question?" she asked. Sasuke turned back to her and raised an eyebrow. "Why…do you train?" Sasuke frowned slightly. She laughed softly. "I mean, what is the purpose of becoming strong? Is it to protect someone important?" Sasuke frowned a little more.

"What's it to you?"

"I'm simply curious," the girl said. Then, growing quiet and seeming to peer past him, "I believe that when a person has something to protect, that's when they can become truly strong. Lately, though," she continued, looking down, "I've been wondering what happens when you have two things that are precious to you, but protecting one puts you in conflict with the other, and…I was wondering what you thought…as a real shinobi…" She shook her head and looked up with another smile. "But you have better things to do then listen to me. If you don't mind, I'll just finish gathering my herbs and be on my way."

"Help yourself; I'm done here," he said, turning to leave as she knelt down and began picking plants. _Someone important, huh? _He thought about Tazuna's story, and what had happened to Inari's father, Kaiza. He shook his head. No, having someone to protect wasn't enough—it required power. Sasuke paused with a frown. Power….

He looked at the kunai in his hand and frowned. He'd come a long way from that scared kid holding onto his mom and trying to figure out why his father was hunting his brother, and from the rebellious boy who had pulled pranks with Naruto and generally did anything and everything to tick his father off—even neglecting his training. A long way—but not far enough. He turned and strode back to the clearing, jaw set. The girl was nowhere to be seen. He fixed his gaze upon the tree. _Someone important…_yeah, he had that. The only thing he lacked was power. Sasuke charged the tree, determined to reach the top.

:

:

"You're up late," Kakashi said behind her.

"Hmm?" Sakura replied, not rally looking as he joined her. The rippling waves beneath the docks upon which she sat commanded most of her attention. Her reflected green eyes stared back at her against the backdrop of a hazy moon until a leaf drifted through the water, disrupting her image.

"Thinking about Inari, huh," he said. Sakura pulled her swaying legs up and hugged her knees.

"He reminds me of…" Sakura frowned, cocking her pink head to the side.

"Naruto," Kakashi finished for her.

"What?" Sakura said, stiffening. "Naruto? No, I wasn't thinking about him. I…" She frowned.

"You know, Naruto doesn't have a father either; in fact, he's never had any family."

Sakura peeked over her red clad shoulder. Kakashi was gazing at the water though in that slightly slumped stance, hands in his pockets. His visible eye was fully open though. "And as far as friends," he continued with a shrug, "well, you probably know more about that than me. Despite that, he was always trying to prove himself. Always trying…" He was silent for a moment.

"Do you think Inari will become, you know,"

"Like Naruto? I don't know," Kakashi said. "He still has family, so that'll help. And maybe finishing the bridge will show him that there is hope after all."

"I guess," she sighed. "It's just, I don't know—it feels like we should be able to do…more."

"Well, I know how you feel," Kakashi said, running a hand through his hair. "But part of being a shinobi is learning what you can do—and accepting what you can't."

"I guess," Sakura muttered. "It's just—Kakashi-sensei?" The silver haired jonin was standing up straight now, both hands visible. He held one out towards her.

"Something's happening," he said. A second later Tazuna came barreling around the side of the house.

"Gato's thugs are here!" he panted.

"Sakura, protect Tazuna and his family."

"What?" Sakura said, blinking.

"Take them into the house and keep them there, no matter what," Kakashi said as he leapt into the night.

"But—"

"Inari's missing," Tazuna said. "We have to find him!"

"I-I," Sakura's words caught in her throat as her mind raced.

"There's no time," Yumiko said as she seemingly materialized out of the dark. "We're under attack, and Sasuke still hasn't come back from last night's training." Her eyes narrowed at that last part. "Now into the house."

"Like hell I will!" Tazuna shouted, slapping a fist into his palm. "This is my home! I'm not just going to stand by and—OOOF!" Tazuna's breathe exploded in a rush as Yumiko buried her fist into his stomach. Yumiko stumbled back as she partially hefted him onto her shoulder.

"Stubborn old man," Yumiko muttered as she half carried, half pushed Tazuna towards his house. Sakura followed.

"Father!" Tsunami cried as they entered, rushing over to them. Yumiko dumped Tazuna on the ground and his blue haired daughter knelt by him, checking his pulse. "Thank goodness," she breathed, hugging his hand to her light pink shirt.

"What about Inari?" she said, looking up with wide amber eyes.

"No one leaves this house," Yumiko said to Sakura before rushing out, slamming the door behind her. Tsunami reached up and clutched Sakura's arm.

"Please," she whispered, tears spilling over onto lightly tanned cheeks.

"He's missing," Sakura whispered, unable to tear away from the mother's gaze.

"Please find him," she said.

"But I—"

"Please," she said. Her grip was like iron.

"I…" Sakura looked from the door to Tsunami and back again. The woman stood, wiping away her tears.

"I understand," she said, starting for the door. "I'll go."

"Wait!" Sakura shouted, rushing in front of her. "Wait." Tsunami sniffed, wiping away more tears, but her eyes were determined.

"I'll go," Sakura said at last. She pulled out a kunai and pressed it into Tsunami's hand. "Just in case."

"Thank you," Tsunami said. Sakura walked to the door and hesitated, looking back.

"Hide someplace safe with Tazuna-san; I'll be back as soon as I can," she said.

"We'll be fine, go." Tsunami said. Sakura nodded, then pulled the door open and slipped out.

Outside was chaos. Screams mingled with the sounds of fighting in the distant dark, the shadows only broken by scattered torchlight. Sakura started off, feet thudding on the docks upon which Tazuna's house was built while her heart pounded in her chest. The kunoichi looked about with wide eyes as she stepped off the docks onto dry land-the roof of a building in the distance burst into flame, casting dim light on shadowy forms rushing away from their homes. She saw a few jump into the river. Sakura skidded around a corner-and came face to face with a man stepping out of a house missing its door, arms loaded with clothes and food and a few pieces of jewelry. He paused when he saw her, blinking brown eyes as the wind tugged at his dirty brown shirt and shorts. A sword was strapped to his back and Sakura didn't give him a chance to use it, shoving chakra down to her feet and propelling herself up, hands grabbing his head and pushing down as she leapfrogged over him. She hit the ground and kept running, darting through the streets and ducking in and out of alleyways, searching frantically for Inari while trying to avoid the men and women with their dirty clothes and deadly weapons. As terrifying as the smell of burning wood was, a part of Sakura was glad when more buildings went aflame, washing the night before her with precious light. Sweat from exertion and a little bit of fear glistened on her forehead a she paused, sucking in air. This wasn't working; where had the boy _gone_? She blinked and suddenly found herself trapped.

"Well well well, what do we have here, boys?" It was the man from before, steeping forward with his sword propped on one shoulder.

"Her clothes look clean," someone said from the other side of her. Sakura's eyes darted back and forth between the two groups.

"She looks like she has money," another voice said. Sakura back herself up against the nearest wall.

"She looks _tasty_," someone hissed, and then they were closing in on her. Sakura's breath froze in her throat and her hand scrambled for her kunai pouch. She had barely gotten a finger in the hoop of one handle when four kunai streaked through the night, two burying themselves into the ground on either side of her, forcing the thugs to halt. Sasuke dropped to the ground next to her, wielding shuriken between the fingers of one hand and a kunai in the other.

"Sasuke-kun..." Sakura whispered. He was breathing heavily

"You look lost," he said without looking at her.

"I'm-I'm looking for Inari-san."

"What are you guys waiting for?" A voice cut in. "There's only one more of them; get 'em!"

"No, that's about enough," a new voice said. A man with a dark purple hat and blue jacket pushed his way through the mob on Sakura's right. "They're _shinobi_," he sneered. "They're above you idiots."

Behind him came a hulking man, bare from the waist up save for the tattoos adorning his tan skin. Both of them wore swords at their hips.

"You heard him, scram!" the tan man said, glaring at the thugs with his one eye. Grumbling, the thugs moved off, leaving Sasuke and her alone with the two men.

"Hey Waraji," the smaller man in the blue coat said, drawing his sword. "I'm getting really tired of shinobi." The tattooed man just grinned and drew his own sword, running his tongue slowly along the curving blade. Sasuke moved past her.

"Sasuke-kun..."

"Go find Inari," he said. "I'll take care of this." His voice sounded strained-and was that a tremble she saw in his legs? If he had been out training all night...

He glanced over his shoulder, dark eyes steely. "Go." Sakura nodded and took two steps back, then turned and ran. The sound of steel meeting steel sounded behind her a moment later, and it took all she had to not turn back.

She hadn't gone too far before she found Inari hiding in a barrel. His sniffling gave him away, and one look through the crack in the top gave a good view of his white hat.

"There you are," she breathed. His head shot up and he looked at her with wide eyes, snot and tears running down his face. "Your family's waiting," she said hurriedly, jerking her eyes about as she helped him out of the barrel.

"I-I fell an-and I-I," he sniffled, and Sakura noted he was favoring his right foot. She turned around and knelt down.

"Climb on."

After a moment, she felt his arms wrap around her neck and she stood, slipping her hands beneath his knees.

"Now if I can just remember my way back..." She frowned, then glanced at the building next to her and wanted to smack herself. How had she forgotten that she could climb walls now? It was a little difficult, making the seal with Inari on her back, but soon she was on top of the roof. With a running start she pushed off, leaping to the next building, then to the next, and the next. From her view she could see what was going on in the village more clearly-and the first thing that she noticed was that there were a _lot_ of Kakashi-sensei's. Lit by the light from several fires now, the silver haired shinobis fought among a ground littered with bodies. In the dim light it was impossible to tell if they were villagers or thugs; both wore the same kind of raggedy clothes. Finally she reached the river by which the village had been built and dropped down. To her horror, the door to the house on the docks was bashed open, and more than one thug lay sprawled on the wood before it.

"Good, you're back," Kakashi appeared next to her. "That just leaves Sasuke."

"He's back there," she said, waving her hand in the direction she had come. "He was fighting two rogue samurai."

Kakashi nodded, then straightened a little bit, eye opening a bit wider.

"I got him," he said. "Don't move," he added to her before leaping onto the water. He began making seals and the water beneath him began to churn, then surge and finally roar up beneath him. Kakashi rode the blue and white water dragon into the air over the village, where it opened its mouth and let loose a torrent of water.

"Mom! Grandpa!" Inari cried from her back. He squirmed from her back and started running for the house; Sakura ran after until she saw Tazuna and Tsunami stepping out of the house.

"My son!" Tsunami cried as the three embraced. Sakura blinked as she looked about the docks and realized that they were packed with people-it looked like most, if not all, of the villagers had made it out ok. Yumiko was there, too; Sakura only got a glance of her glare before hastily looking away. She settled on watching Inari as he embraced his family, and couldn't help the smile that took over her face.

:

:

The apple barely shuddered.

"I thought you said it would only be a week," Zabuza panted.

"My apologies, Zabuza-san," Haku said with a bow of his head. "I overestimated the medicine's effectiveness."

Zabuza let the hand holding the apple drop; the fruit rolled onto the floor.

"I can't face Kakashi like this," he growled, shaking his head.

"Please forgive me," Haku said, keeping his face perfectly calm. Zabuza gazed at him for a long time, then gave a soft snort and closed his eyes, leaning back in his seat. "We shouldn't stay here much longer," Haku continued after a moment.

"No, I suppose not," Zabuza said. Haku turned away. No amount of telling himself that it was for Zabuza's own good eased the guilt he could no longer keep off his face.

:

:

"Hey, you wanna give me a hand with this?" Tazuna yelled. Kakashi looked up from his book at the older man, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm not a bridge builder you know. I'm here to protect you."

"Ah, come on. Gato's gone, his gang is gone, those shinobi are gone—what else you got to do?"

Kakashi sighed and pushed away from the railing, slipping his book back into his vest. He moved to the other side, where Tazuna was hard at work putting up another railing, even though his crew hadn't even finished building the bridge yet. In their defense, the work was slowed down considerably as they tried to rebuild their homes at the same time. Even as Kakashi moved, though, he kept his senses trained all around him. Despite Tazuna's words, Kakashi knew in his gut that Zabuza was till alive out there somewhere. He could strike at any moment.

"Grandpa, what do you want me to do?" Inari said, scrambling forward in his green pants and suspenders over a white shirt. A hard hat covered his shaggy black hair. Kakashi couldn't help the smile that tugged at his lips—Inari's transformation over the three days since they had defeated Gato's gang had been astounding. Sakura had done good work. Yumiko didn't agree, if the glares she shot Sakura every now and then was any indication. That might be trouble in the future. He shook his head. _One problem at a time._ Sasuke hung back from the rest, and his scowl insured none of the workers who did get close asked for his help. He sat on the bridge, two katanas lying across his lap, a steady frown furrowing his brow. _If this funk of his doesn't end soon I might have to do something._ Kakashi looked at Inari again as Tazuna gave him instructions, beaming from ear to ear. He really did remind Kakashi of—

"Hey, you going to help or not?" Tazuna demanded, posting his fist on his hips.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming."

:

:

He was finally here; wherever "here" was. Naruto blinked, trying to get his eyes adjusted to the darkness of the cave. Another cave. Ever since he had left it had been one cave after another, each with directions to the next one. He had to admit that this one was the biggest of all, and had been blocked by a large stone. He had no idea how he'd got in, actually; he'd just touched the paper seal on the stone and with a poof—literally, he was sure—he had been cloaked in darkness.

"Hello?" he called, adjusting the pack hanging from his shoulder. Nothing. He fidgeted with the goggles on his head for a moment before taking a couple more steps forward once he could see enough to make sure he wouldn't run into anything. Suddenly torches began to bloom, a ring of them all around the room, save for the gap created by some kind of huge statue across from him. And there, before the…whatever it was, stood a man in a black cloak.

"So you've come at last, Uzumaki Naruto," the man said, approaching. He was a tall man of fair skin and spiky red hair. Three metal studs lined each side of his nose and the outer edges of both ears were pierced almost all the way up, including a solid bar running through each ear from tip to lobe. Naruto looked into his eyes, and suddenly felt dizzy as he studied the circles within circles that surrounded the man's pupils, seeming to swim in the purplish tint where the whites should have been.

"Who are you?" Naruto breathed. "Where am I?"

"This is your new home," the man said, clasping a hand on Naruto's orange and blue clad shoulder and sweeping his arm to take in the cavern behind him. Suddenly there were other figures, shrouded in shadow and seated on a ring of rocks within the ring of fire. "And these are your new brothers. Welcome to Akatsuki."


	7. The Calm Before

Ch. 6: The Calm Before

The thing about Akatsuki, Naruto decided as he walked along shadowy, underground halls, was that the other members made him feel…well, _normal. _First there was crazy eyes, as Naruto had taken to calling the orange haired Leader behind his back. He wasn't exactly sure what the man's powers were, but one look into those purple hued, multi-ringed eyes summoned powerful emotions; foremost among them fear and loathing. He didn't understand where those emotions came from, exactly, but he decided it would best to avoid that dizzying gaze.

Then there was the chick who could turn herself into paper—paper! Naruto had laughed when he had first seen it. And then she had filled the air around him with so many paper shuriken and arrows that he couldn't count them all and had given a simple command. "Dodge." Naruto's step faltered as he shuddered—a paper cut really _was_ the worst kind of pain. He took a left, long black robe decorated with red clouds brushing against the earthen floor.

After that, he had been left in the dubious care of a blue skinned monster of a man, with gills on his face and an even more monstrous sword called…Naruto frowned as he walked through a group of shinobi in gray camouflage pants and tan shirts. He couldn't remember what the sword was called really, but it had been huge and wrapped with bandages. They had sparred a little bit, but then the Shark-as Naruto had taken to calling the jagged toothed man to his face, and who laughed about it-had deiced his time would be better spent learning chakra control. At which point the Shark had thrown him into the middle of a lake and demanded he find his own way to shore without swimming. To which Naruto had cursed him, and he had promptly tried to drown the blonde with a suiton jutsu in return. When he got the hang of what the Shark was saying, though, he had worked day and night to be able to walk on water. He hadn't mastered it by the time they were done, but he'd been able to make it to shore without falling under every two steps. That experience made him shudder, too—mostly, he was sure, because the chill of the lake had soaked permanently into his bones.

And those had been the-relatively-sane ones. There had been a man with slicked back silver hair and a serious blood fetish whose idea of taijutsu training had been to come at Naruto full tilt with a three bladed scythe. It was then that Naruto learned of the miraculous extent of the healing powers granted to him by the Kyuubi. Naruto was sure he had survived only because of the man with startling green eyes against a backdrop of red where the whites should've been. On more than one occasion the man-who reminded Naruto somewhat of Kakashi in that most of his face was obscured by a black mask and white hood-had stopped the other from completing what he called a curse ritual. Naruto wasn't really sure what it entailed, exactly; the psycho's explanations were lost in rants about "Lord Jashin," whoever that was. Luckily, he hadn't spent much time with them; they had dumped him at the first opportunity in search of some bounty.

Which brought him to his current location and the member of Akatsuki who, hands down, creeped him out the most.

"Naruto-kun," a soft voice all but hissed as he pushed through grand double doors. Naruto narrowed his eyes at the tall, slender man who awaited him, seated on the far side of the room on a raised platform, face swathed in the flickering light of torches around the room. Long black hair fell past thin shoulders and brushed the tan fabric of his long shirt. Skintight black sleeves picked up where short tan ones ended, culminating in pale, nearly blue hands. It was the tongue that grossed Naruto out the most— much too long and Orochimaru had a habit of licking everything from his lips to weapons to blood. Golden brown eyes with slits for pupils seemed to leer at him as he entered the room. Naruto let his gaze shift past Orochimaru to the purple-clad man standing slightly behind the Snake—as Naruto had taken to calling the man in his head, though never out loud. The shinobi here in Orochimaru's own personal village, Oto-something, seemed to revere the man as a god. That both he and the shinobi in purple adjusting his circular glasses were, apparently, former shinobi of the leaf as well didn't do anything to ease Naruto's mind. Simply being in the Snake's presence set his instincts on fire. He smelled…wrong, was the only way to describe it. Like graves left open.

"Are you ready to get started?" the Snake asked.

"Get started with what?" Naruto said, eyes narrowing. He was still getting used to the slight growl that now punctuated his words.

"Your first mission, of course," Orochimaru said, rising from his throne.

"Mission?" Naruto said, straightening and unable to control the smile that grew on his face. "What kind of mission?" He had to stop himself from dancing from one foot to the other.

:

:

When Sasuke trained with the katana, he gained a glimmer of insight into Itachi. He'd taken to practicing in the morning, by the willow tree and the river where he spent so much time thinking. Today he'd stripped off his shirt and kicked off his sandals, and sweat rolled down his torso as he sliced through the air. His skill with the weapon was rudimentary at best; he was still unaccustomed to the weight of the swords for one. For another he'd never had any formal training at the academy, and Kakashi didn't use a blade. Still, he had deduced the basics on his own—and his sharingan would do the rest. He summoned his kekkei genkai and went to work. As he did so, as he practiced the cutting motions and stances and body movements of the men he had first copied them from, he thought he could see them for a moment—ghosts in the eyes. One wore a purple hat and blue jacket, the other had an eye patch and swirling red tattoos on his tan, muscular skin. Today he used the sword from the man with the blue hat; it was a lighter blade, thinner and better balanced.

His feet moved across the grass as he let the recorded techniques flow out of him, embedding them into his muscles and slowly making them his own. And as he continued his slow, methodical dance, he remembered what the techniques had been used for. He held the sword parallel t his chest, pushing out with one hand on the hilt and the other supporting the blade on its flat side near the point—a move to deflect a kunai. A flick from a horizontal guard to a diagonal to block a shuriken, then back down almost straight to the ground to block another. A short stab to disrupt balance and a horizontal slash across the body, executed in a reverse grip so it could immediately flash down into a stabbing motion—Sasuke quickly found he didn't have the strength or coordination to wield the sword one handed as effectively as that muscular man with the tattoos.

They had been good, in a way—no match for him at his best, of course, but he'd hardly been at his best that night. He'd hardly been _standing_ that night, physically exhausted and suffering from chakra drain. He slashed down, hard—and overextended himself, stumbling a step just like the tattooed man had done that night. And that had been when Sasuke buried the kunai into his good eye. Sasuke regained his balance, stepped back, and repeated the slash again, and again, and again, correcting the overextension.

It hadn't been so bad with the big man—he'd had both his eyes covered and Sasuke had still been in the heat of battle. Sasuke's sword became a fury of motion, though his face held none of the same emotion that had twisted the pale face of his last ghost. He slashed to the side, then continued around in a quick spin, reversing his grip on the sword and stabbing it behind and down. He slashed up in the same reverse grip with one hand as he turned back, brought the hilt of the sword to his other palm at his shoulder and pushed forward into a stab—and held it there. That had been the end—

_Sasuke pushed away from the wall, flipping and landing with one foot on the flat of the blade, his weight bearing it to the ground, slashing at the ronin's face—only gravity took over faster than he had expected, and the blade fell to the other man's throat. Sasuke gritted his teeth and pushed his kunai the few extra inches. This would be it; he'd used the last of his chakra jumping above the downwards stab, then sticking to the side of a building to avoid the follow up high slash. The kunai tore the man's throat easily; Sasuke pressed with all his might so that the triangular blade severed arteries and vocal cords. Blood splashed against his face, forcing him to close one eye as the thick, warm liquid washed over him. The rouge samurai dropped his sword and clutched at his throat, gurgling. Sasuke maintained his balance for a second, stumbling back before hitting the wall behind him and sliding down. The other man's blue hat fluttered to the ground as he did the same on the opposite side of the street. Sasuke couldn't turn his eyes away as he watched the life slip away from those dark eyes. Just a few moments, but then the man slumped to the side, dead. Sasuke felt the sharingan slip away, but he didn't care. He looked slowly from one dead man to the next, and suddenly an icy fist gripped his insides, bile surging up his throat._

"They were trash."

Sasuke whirled, pointing his pilfered blade at his father. Fugaku didn't seem the least bit concerned, though; in fact, he wasn't paying any attention to Sasuke at all. Instead, he walked over to the tree and picked up the second sword, pulling it from its sheath and giving it a cursory glance.

"A decent sword," he said with a nod. "You were right to take it from such trash."

"Give it back," Sasuke said quietly. Fugaku turned holding the blade out to one side and tucked the sheath into the sash of his green dress like yukata.

"Come claim it."

Sasuke readied his katana, narrowing his red and black eyes. His father hadn't activated his own sharingan, and his stance was relaxed, though he did slide the foot on his sword side slightly behind him. Finally, Sasuke attacked.

Sasuke struck to hit, and he was almost positive he would—until his father sidestepped at the last moment and struck his sword aside. His father's blade moved fast, so close to his own body that Sasuke was sure he was going to cut himself. Sasuke spun, slashing as he turned, and his father stepped forward at a slight angle, his blade sliding along Sasuke's own as it simultaneously pushed away his attack and left him open. Sasuke was forced to leap back and his father halted his advance. Sasuke attacked again, coming in with a diagonal slash from bottom to top—and again his father advanced at that slight angle, redirecting Sasuke's blade and gliding his own up in a counter attack with the screech of steel sliding over steel. Again Sasuke was forced to leap back.

"Shinobi rule number twenty-five," Fugaku spoke into the silence. _A shinobi must kill their emotions._ For some reason, thinking about it made Sasuke angrier and he charged, slashing sideways. Metal rang as Fugaku blocked, even as he moved along with the attack, and then around it, bringing up his blade. Sasuke dodged to the side.

"Do you know why?" Fugaku asked sternly. Sasuke gritted his teeth and charged again, technique forgotten as he hammered away at his father's blade. His father fell back, and Sasuke's strikes either missed by mere inches or were turned away at the last second. Then, suddenly, as Sasuke came in with an over hand strike, Fugaku surged forward sweeping his blade up. Sasuke's blade bounced away and he stumbled back, and found his father's blade at his throat.

"Shinobi kill their emotions to do what must be done," his father said, eyes burrowing into Sasuke. "Emotion gets in the way. Attachment gets in the way."

"I killed them," Sasuke whispered.

"Yes," Fugaku said, nodding. "You did." He withdrew the blade, sheathed it and handed it to Sasuke. "Let it go."

"Just like that," Sasuke said. Fugaku nodded, tucking his arms into the opposite sleeves.

"Shinobi hold life and death in their hands. If you're unprepared for that responsibility, then you should quit now."

Sasuke glowered at his back as Fugaku walked away. "Your review for the military police is today; I suggest you prepare," his father threw over his shoulder.

The black haired boy stood there for a long moment before trudging back to the tree and claiming the other sheath. He sat down with his back against the bark and laid the two katana across his lap, studying them with a frown. Why _had_ he taken them? Why had he kept them? As much as he hated to admit it, his father was right—those two had been trash. They would have gladly killed him and anyone else who crossed them. So why did the memory of life slipping away from those eyes still haunt him? He leaned his head back against the bark and looked up into the sky, watching the clouds roll by. He remembered a time when he had been younger, sitting with his brother during a break in shuriken practice in the woods, pestering him about what real battles were like. Itachi's response had been short and haunting.

"'Nobody wins a battle'," Sasuke quoted in a whisper. "'When you kill someone, you always lose a piece of yourself'." He shook his head, wondering if his eyes held the same sadness he had seen in Itachi's from that moment on. Then he stood, sharingan glinting in his eyes, and went back to training. This time, the ghosts he had previously been copying had company.

After awhile he stopped, breath coming in shallow gasps. Then he sheathed the blade, retrieved the other one along with his shirt, and began the trek back home for a much needed shower.

He stepped out of the steamy haze of his bathroom a little while later, toweling off his hair, and dressed in a fresh pair of white shirts and a shirt of mesh armor before pulling his blue, high necked coat over his head. A look at his clock told him his review was near. A ghost of a smirk flickered over his face as he thought about what he was about to do-and, more importantly, the eyes that would be watching, waiting for him to fail.

:

:

Yumiko tried not to be worried. She didn't _want_ to be worried. At one point, she even told herself she _wasn't_ worried—but the tread she was wearing in the white tatami mats as she paced made that hard to believe. Then she told herself that she was only worried because her fate was inescapably bound to Sasuke's, which she really did believe. Almost. She paused when she heard the door to the traditional, but modest, home opening and suddenly she realized how ridiculous she looked, standing there in the living room wringing her hands and immediately threw herself on the cushion at the low table in the center of the floor and began sharpening the kunai arranged there. She'd already sharpened and oiled all of her weapons earlier, of course—and then again for good measure. She didn't raise her head, but peered through gold streaked black bangs as her father entered. She watched carefully for any hint of what had happened in his posture or face, or the way he moved, but Garui just moved silently past her with a nod as he headed toward the kitchen. Yumiko returned the nod and studiously went back to her weapons, tightening her jaw against the questions bubbling to the surface.

Garui returned a few minutes later with a steaming cup of tea and seated himself across from her with a slight flourish of his blue kimono.

"You weren't at Sasuke's review," he noted, taking a sip. Yumiko had to still her impatience.

Yumiko shrugged. "I had better things to do."

"I see," he said. "So you don't want to know how it went?"

"I suppose," Yumiko said, glancing up.

"He did well," Garui answered.

"That's good," Yumiko replied. She felt some tension leave her shoulders and polished her weapons a bit longer in silence, before peeking up. Her father seemed content to sit there, relaxing and breathing in wafts of steam.

"I'm surprised," she said at last, truthfully, hoping she didn't sound pleased. "During our mission to the land of waves, he didn't even know Kanashibari."

"Well he knows it now," Garui said. "As well as the official history of the military police, Konoha, the different ranks and duties within the police and various other things that officer Teijo seemed surprised about."

"Sounds like someone's been busy," she said.

"Unlike officer Teijo, you mean," her father said.

"I didn't say that."

Her father chuckled softly—a rare sound. "Don't worry, I happen to agree with you. It's bad enough that he made such a fuss over potential favoritism that we had to give Sasuke over to him, but then to not even train the boy…" Garui shook his head and snorted. "It's bad for the clan to be divided so."

"Well, that's over with," Yumiko said. "Now Sasuke can be read into the unofficial history and we can focus on what's truly important."

This time his silence was unnerving.

"Father?" she asked with a frown, finally raising her head.

"Sasuke's not being read in," he said finally. "At least, not for the time being."

The hairs on the back of Yumiko's neck stood up and she fought back a chill.

"What's going to happen to him?"

Garui raised a gray flecked brown brow slightly at the question. Yumiko sat up straighter and set her kunai and whetstone down before folding her hands in her lap.

"I was less than…thrilled when you announced my betrothal," she said. "But I accepted, for the good of the clan. And, since my life is now intertwined with his, I believe I deserve to know."

Garui pursed his lips for a moment.

"Suffice to say that you may not have to worry about that much longer," he said at last. _Her_ brow arched at that, but her father took another sip of tea rather than elaborate.

"I see," she said.

"I thought you would be happy," he said. "As you said, he wasn't your first choice."

"I'll wait for more concrete detail before celebrating, if you don't mind," she said.

"Very well." Garui nodded and stood. Yumiko returned the nod and her father retired to the kitchen for more tea. Yumiko gathered up her things and retreated to her room, frowning at the frown that tugged at her lips. Sleep proved elusive that night.

:

:

Looking back on it now, Sakura realized that she had changed on the mission to the land of waves, dangerous as it had been. It was probably due to that danger, in fact, that she had barely considered her weight, or her forehead, or her pathetically underdeveloped curves. She had smiled for the first time in quite awhile—a true, genuine smile—at the exhilaration of running up trees and seeing a family reunited. The journey home had been marked by relieved joy at the success of the mission, and she had barely noticed Yumiko's glares in light of the memory of Kakashi's hand on her shoulder as Inari and his family rejoiced behind her. _"Good job."_

That weird smile that he seemed to show with only his one eye and his simple words of praise seemed far away now, as she trudged along the streets of Konoha after their latest mission. The weeks—it felt like years—since returning home from Wave Country had shown she hadn't really changed at all. What was worse, she had proved herself increasingly inept during their recent missions.

A yell broke her from her thoughts.

"Let go of me!"

Sakura blinked tired green eyes and looked up, step faltering and eyes widening as she took in her surroundings. Namely, the small boy with the spiky black hair poking out of a hole on top of a gray helmet. He hung suspended in the air, legs kicking beneath him futilely.

"That really hurt, you little snot!" said the older boy holding him up by the kid's long blue scarf. He had a smile on his face, though, slightly distorting the slashes of purple paint on his sun darkened skin. Sakura stiffened as she caught sight of the symbol etched into the forehead protector on the boy's black hood—an hourglass with a separate bar over the top. _'Foreign shinobi?'_

"Don't; we'll get yelled at later."

Sakura turned her attention to the girl next to him, the same hitai-ite hanging around her neck and her blonde hair arranged into four short ponytails. _Who are they?_

"Let him go!" Sakura was some what startled that the words were her own.

"Oh?" The boy turned his dark eyes on her. "What are you going to do about it, girlie?"

Sakura flinched back at the menacing gaze and took an involuntary step backwards.

"Don't look down on her just because she's a girl, idiot!" the blonde said, slapping the back of his head.

"Fine, fine," the boy grumbled. Then he turned and hurled the boy with the helmet at Sakura.

Sakura yelped as she scrambled to catch the boy; both ended up in a heap on the ground.

"Get off of me!" the boy said, scrambling away. "I don't need your help!"

Sakura couldn't help but notice that he had put her between him and his assailant.

"Looks like I get to play a little before the boss comes," the boy said with a smirk as he approached, reaching up to the large, bandage wrapped bundle on his back. Sakura was suddenly overcome with dread, crawling slightly backwards.

"What happened to that bravado from before?" he asked mockingly. "Is this the limit of a Konoha genin?"

The bandage wrapped bundle thudded against the ground. "If there's one thing I can't stand even more than a midget, it's a whiny female who can't back up her loud mouth."

"Hey!" The blonde yelled from behind him again.

"Don't worry, you can back up your loud mouth," he said over his shoulder.

"That's ri—hey!"

Suddenly the bundle whipped up in front of him, and a shuriken _thumped_ into it a moment later.

"Y-umiko," Sakura said shakily as the girl joined her.

"Don't think that you can have your way just because you're being allowed into our village," Yumiko said. She didn't spare a glance at Sakura. Normally, that would've ignited the kunoichi's anger, but under these circumstances all she could do was frown at the foreign shinobi.

"Allowed?" she echoed.

"Seems you're more informed than your friend," the boy said with a grin. "Let's see if you can back up those tough words." He grasped the top of the bandage and pulled it away—only to let it fall with a grimace as he shook his hand. A rock fell to the ground.

"You're outnumbered," Sasuke said from his perch in a tree behind them.

"Why you-!"

"Enough, Kankuro," a cold voice cut in. Sakura gasped a little at the red head boy who now stood in the tree opposite Sasuke. _Where did he-? _Her breath froze as she looked into those faded green eyes. The rings around them were darker than black, and the expression-or lack there of-on his face was unnerving. But it was definitely the eyes that made her shiver. "I'll kill you."

Sakura stiffened, mouth falling open slightly. Did he mean…? No, she shook her head and glanced back at the boy in black who seemed just as shaken as her, if the forced grin and nervous laugh were any indication. Were they teammates? The idea that the red haired boy would speak to a teammate like that made her shudder even more. Then the boy with the giant gourd on his back melted into sand, pouring down the tree and reforming on the ground next to the foreign-nin. Sasuke dropped down from the tree as well, landing on the other side of Sakura. For a moment, all was silent as Sasuke and the other boy exchanged glances. Then the boy with the kanji for "love" tattooed in red on his pale forehead turned.

"Let's go," he said and started off.

"O-of course," the blonde girl said, hastily following. The boy in black went too, without a word or a glance back at those he had moments before been willing to attack. Then Sakura was being pulled to her feet.

Sakura glanced at Sasuke out of the corner of her eye, heart fluttering as he gave her a quick once over. Sakura tried to no avail to suppress those cruel emotions and tried even harder to ignore the disappointment when he nodded slightly and removed the support of his gentle touch on her arm.

"Next time have more care where you stick your giant forehead," Yumiko said as she walked past. "We can't always be there to bail you out."

Sasuke huffed softly, shaking his head as Yumiko disappeared around a corner, but he didn't say anything. He didn't leave, either. Sakura suddenly found a rock very interesting, toeing at it while she cast about for anything to break the awkward silence

"Shouldn't we go after them?" she blurted.

"They're probably here for the chuunin exam," Sasuke said, glancing in the direction the foreign shinobi had gone.

"Chuunin exam?" Sakura asked. Sasuke nodded.

"Mother said it was close," he mused.

"Oh," she said, with a little shake of her head. Not for the first time, she wondered what other skills or knowledge she had missed out on by not being born into a great shinobi heritage.

"Yumiko's right," Sasuke said. Sakura's toe froze on the rock as her breath did the same in her throat. "About you being careful anyway," Sasuke continued. The clarification didn't make it much better. "You don't have to take such risks on your own."

Sakura nodded jerkily, only glancing at him as he walked away.

"Man, this sucks," the little boy said, kicking at the ground as he walked away, head hung and his hands in his pockets.

Sakura had to agree as she did the same.

:

:

It was a bad day to be Hokage. Sarutobi studied the three people on the other side of his desk with a carefully neutral face. He'd been expecting this meeting. In fact, he was surprised it hadn't happened sooner.

"It's been three months, and still not even a hint of a trail," Utatane Koharu said, wrinkled face impassive and her eyes, though squinted to the point of looking closed, drilling into his. Next to her, dressed in the same white robes of a Konoha councilor, square-jawed Mitokado Homura nodded his own gray haired head.

"It's clear now that your ANBU is not enough," he said with a disapproving dark gaze from behind green-rimmed glasses and a slight frown above his gray beard. Sarutobi gathered the other man knew full well how many Sarutobi had assigned the task of finding Naruto.

"We must intensify our efforts," Koharu agreed. There was no disparaging gaze from her, though she doubtless knew as well.

"What would you have me do?" Sarutobi said, raising his brow. "Name him a missing-nin? Put a bounty on his head?"

"If you must, " Homura said.

"He is a genin, Homura; and barely that."

"He is a Jinchuriki," Homura said.

"Would you like that information made available to bingo books?"

"Of course not," Koharu answered for her male counterpart. "There are ways to go about such a thing discretely."

"And just as many ways for it to go horribly wrong," Sarutobi snorted. _'Have you two lost your good sense?'_

Then Homura's eyes shifted, ever so slightly, towards the third person in the room, and Sarutobi understood. It was never about getting him to name Naruto a missing-nin.

"There is another way," Koharu said. To her credit, nothing in her tone or body language suggested what Sarutobi knew was coming. He braced himself.

"Reinstate Root," Danzo said simply. Sarutobi turned his gaze onto Danzo, narrowing his eyes. The bandages wrapped around the man's head covered his right eye to the side of his nose, though it might as well have covered his entire face for all the care that the man showed at the anger Sarutobi let through to his face.

"Root," Sarutobi said, eyes sweeping over the other two as well, "was an abomination, disbanded because it had complete autonomy and, therefore, zero accountability." His gaze came back to rest on Danzo. He'd long suspected that the man had kept the organization going in secret, though he'd never been able to prove it.

"Desperate times call for desperate measures," Koharu said with a small shrug.

"Root was designed to ensure plausible deniability," Homura said. "They can act where the Hokage cannot."

"Or will not," Danzo added bluntly.

Sarutobi wanted nothing more than to hit the man. He wanted nothing more then to tell them to get the hell out of his office. No, he wanted nothing more than to _throw_ them out of his office. He was the Hokage; his word was law. And, ironically, it was his very power that tied his hands now.

He still remembered the day he had created the system of checks and balances for the Hokage, shortly after the third shinobi war. He remembered the shock, followed almost immediately by worry. Worry that limiting the political power of the Hokage would make Konoha look weak compared to other villages, whose Kage ruled with absolute power. Worry that giving the advisors and clan leaders the potential power to overthrow the Hokage would make their leader little more than a figurehead. Sarutobi had been far more worried at the time about some future Hokage becoming like some of the monsters that ruled over other hidden villages. It had been his wish that, if that dark day ever did come, the village would have a way to act without causing a civil war.

He certainly hadn't expected his own ideals to come back and bite him. Worse, a part of him wondered if they wouldn't be justified with such actions.

So, instead of doing what he wanted to, he held back a sigh and said,

"I will not allow Root to fester among us again." There was simply no way he was giving Danzo that much public power. "However," he continued, forcing away his grimace. "You may put together a special task force to find Naruto."

"Very well," Homura said with a small bow of his head. "We will take charge of this task force, Hokage-sama."

"Bah!" Sarutobi exclaimed as soon as the door shut behind the trio, throwing down his hat and yanking his draw open. Angry puffs quickly filled his office with smoke.

:

:

Unbeknownst to Sarutobi, half a country away a cat masked ANBU was drawn to a cave by traces of the Kyuubi's chakra—and he wasn't the only one. The ANBU didn't even feel the other's presence until it was upon him and he whirled, hands flashing through seals. Wooden posts sprouted up from the ground, rumbling forth and twisting about like gnarled tree branches as the shot through through the air. In seconds, the other man was encased in a cage of thick, wooden beams. Not that it seemed to worry him.

"I hear you've been looking for me," he said, flashing a broad grin.

:

:

Kakashi studied his students through his half-lidded eye, watching their reactions underneath the red arches rising from the bridge that had become their usual meeting place. Sasuke barely glanced at his form before shaking his head with a smirk—confidence; something he hadn't seen in the boy since the mission to the Land of Waves. He'd also stopped carrying those katana around, though he still wore that preoccupied frown at times.

Sakura, on the other hand, clutched at her chuunin exam application tightly, crinkling the edges as she stared at it with wide green eyes. And Yumiko…Well, her attention was firmly set on Kakashi. The silver haired shinobi didn't let his eye widen or his posture stiffen at all as his lazy eye passed through her burning gaze without blinking or hesitation, returning to the rest of his team as if her eyes hadn't been doing their best kunai impersonation. It wasn't just directed at him, he noticed in the moment right before she vanished from the corner of his eye. Sakura didn't seem to notice the other girl's sidelong glance, though, which Kakashi thought was just as well—the pink haired girl looked pale enough.

After he had told them where to turn in their applications, if they chose to take the exams, Yumiko grabbed Sakura by the arm and Kakashi knew the issues between them were coming to a head.

"Come with me," Yumiko said, not waiting for a response as she led, but mostly dragged, the other girl away. Sakura didn't seem to even notice until they were two or three steps away. And even then she only looked up, blinking at Kakashi and Sasuke before frowning at Yumiko, and then the two were out of sight.

"This can't be good," Sasuke muttered as he watched the two of them go.

"Ah, Sasuke, you worry too much," Kakashi said with a dismissive wave of his hand. Sasuke turned a raised brow on him with a look that said he clearly didn't think the same. Then he started after the girls.

"Trust me," Kakashi emphasized the words a little as he caught the boy by the shoulder and turned him away. Then, with a smile beneath his mask that he made sure reached his one visible eye, he said "Nothing good can come from interrupting girl time." He gave Sasuke a short, but firm push in the opposite direction.

Sasuke looked back at him, frowning slightly. Kakashi didn't miss the way the boy's eyes strayed to his covered Sharingan, or the subtle twitch of a frown at his lips. He'd received plenty of similar looks since unveiling Obito's gift, though Sasuke had yet to inquire about it and Kakashi was in no rush to explain. Kakashi had been somewhat surprised, and pleased, that Sasuke didn't glare at him like Yumiko did. Still, as he stood there trading gazes with him, Kakashi saw uncertainty in those onyx orbs. The boy still didn't know quite what to think of him. After a moment, though, Sasuke nodded and turned towards home, and Kakashi softly exhaled a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. Then he turned, straightened from his perpetual slump and slipped after the girls.

He tracked them to a wooded area not far from the bridge, which was often utilized as a training ground. He arrived just in time to see Sakura hit the ground, hard enough for her hita-ite to fly off and tumble into the soft grass as she rolled.

"I won't let you endanger the team during the exam," Yumiko said, black clad form striding forward. "You're not fit to be a shinobi."

Kakashi pulled a spool of wire with a weighted ball on one end from the pouch at his side. He let it fly, tugging the wire to guide the weight as he entered the scene. He started around Yumiko's torso, winding the wire to trap her arms at her sides before looping it around her body to bind her legs. He walked up behind the girl, pulling the wire tight, holding it an inch away from cutting into her skin.

"Sakura," he said casually, tucking his free hand into his pocket. His one eye, though, bored into Yumiko; she glanced over her shoulder with a smoldering look of her own. "Would you give us a moment?"

The pink haired girl climbed to her feet, wiping blood from her lip before staggering over to her hitai-ite and scooping it off the ground. She left without a word, pink head hung low.

"Let—"

"What," he said, his cold voice cutting through her words and eliciting a flinch. "Do you think you're doing."

She just glared at him. Kakashi pulled the wire tighter and she winced.

"Apparently you didn't hear me," Kakashi said. "What do you think you're doing?"

"She doesn't have what it takes to be a shinobi; its better she accept that now," Yumiko said, continuing to glare.

"That's not your call," Kakashi said.

"Someone had to make it."

"I don't know how things worked on your original genin team," Kakashi said. She stiffened slightly at the comment, eye widening just a little—part indignation and part surprise—but Kakashi went on before she could say anything. "But I'm the leader of team seven."

Yumiko huffed, nearly covering up her surprise. "Then as the leader," she said, "I'm sure you're aware just how close we came to failing the Wave mission—all because Sakura broke protocol and left her post to search for some snot nosed kid."

"As I recall, Tazuna and Tsunami were quite pleased with the result."

"It easily could have gone the other way and you know it," Yumiko shook her head, blonde streaked black tail whipping about. "She endangered the lives of two to save one. I can't trust her to do what's best for the team."

"Ah," Kakashi said dryly, looking in the direction Sakura had gone. "Yes, I can see how much you care for your teammates."

"Right now, at her level, she's dead weight."

Kakashi was silent for a long moment.

"You weren't here the first day, so you missed this part," he said at last. "But those who abandon their friends are worse than trash."

"Save me th—"

"I'm not finished," Kakashi said, eye narrowing as he pulled the wire tighter still. Indentations on the white expanse of bare skin between her sleeveless vest and elbow length gloves were clearly visible. "You claim you're looking out for the good of the team—and yet, you obviously don't care about the welfare of your team_mates_. Perhaps that's the reason your original team didn't enter the previous chuunin exam."

Yumiko's hands clenched into fists and she jerked against her bonds for a little bit in her attempt to whirl at him. The motion drew blood as the wire dug further into her skin; red droplets welled underneath the fine metal and trickled down her arm. "It's hard to trust someone who sees you as nothing more than another faceless weapon; that only sees the big picture," he continued without pause. Yumiko turned as much as she could, trying to beat him back with the fury in her eyes. "People like that are far too likely to decide that its in 'the group's' best interest to sacrifice one of their own to get the job done—though never themselves, of course."

With a flick of his wrist the wire loosened and fell down around her feet. She instantly leapt away from him, turning and assuming a fighting stance. Kakashi rolled up his wire, ignoring the kunai she drew for a moment.

"Well," he said instead with a sigh, "You're not likely to listen, but I'll say it anyway: shinobi are human, too. The minute we forget that, we just become monsters," he narrowed his eye again and let a chill creep back into his voice. "And monsters are only worthy of a quick death."

And with that, he left her standing in the middle of the woods. He felt her gaze on him, but he didn't look back—though he kept his other senses trained on her until he vanished among the trees.

:

:

Sakura didn't pay much attention to where she was going as she fled the training grounds, leaving Kakashi and her so-called teammate behind. Her ears were still ringing from Yumiko's blows and she could taste dried blood on her lip. She was still shaking, too. Despite having her eyes glued to her sandaled feet, she couldn't seem to muster up any semblance of balance, let alone grace. She counted herself lucky that, as she stumbled through the hustle of mid morning Konoha, she didn't trip or knock anybody over. Eventually, though, she bumped shoulders with someone and partially spun around as she fought to maintain her balance. The person said something—probably yelling at the clumsy, good for nothing, poor excuse for a shinobi. Sakura mumbled an apology but didn't stop to listen to their rant. Tears were already starting to form in her eyes, further ruining her already precarious step.

"What's the big idea, running into me like that!" an angry voice yelled before she had gotten five steps away. A hand grabbed her shoulder and spun her around. Sakura gasped and her head whipped up, green eyes wide as her hands shot up in front of her. "Be more careful with that forehead of yours! I could've be-!"

The blonde girl in front of her froze with her mouth half open as Sakura's green eyes meet startling blue. For a moment they stood there, Sakura in a shaky fighting stance and Ino with one hand still clutching Sakura's red clad shoulder. The wind swirled around them, leaves playing with the blonde's long ponytail before her one time friend turned rival gave a shake of her head. She stood back, posting her fist on the blue bandanna of her hitai-ite that she wore as a belt around her slender hips. Her mouth opened, then shut again with a frown. Sakura was just trying to get her breathe under control as she stood, avoiding Ino's eyes.

"You're covering your forehead again," Ino said at last, blinking as if she were surprised at her own words. Sakura frowned and reached up to find her hitai-ite firmly tied above her thin pink brow.

"Huh," she mused softly, suddenly aware of the weight. "Didn't even realize…"

"So…" Ino said after a long pause. Sakura blinked and looked back up at her.

"Yeah…uh…sorry for bumping into you…" she said, ducking her head.

"It…uh…yeah, just be more—are you crying?"

Sakura opened her mouth to say no, but only a hitching sob escaped as she sniffed, throwing an arm against her eyes and trying unsuccessfully to hold in the tears.

"S-sasuke,"

"What?" Ino yelled, grabbing Sakura and shaking her. "Did something happen to Sasuke?"

"He-he," Sakura sniffled. "He's be-betrothed." She wrapped her arms around the other girl and buried her face into her shoulder as the dam broke and tears began to fall like rain.

She wasn't sure why she had chosen that particular issue, in light of the fact that she had just been beaten by her own teammate after being nominated for a chuunin exam that she was pretty sure she had no chance of passing. But in the end, it didn't matter. All the sleepless nights thinking about her faults; all the time spent dissecting her looks in the mirror, her inadequacies on missions, Sasuke's betrothal, Yumiko's words—which, strange as it sounded, had hurt worse than her fists—all of it combined together to make her a blubbering mess. After a moment, she felt Ino's hand awkwardly patting her back. The gesture made her cry even harder.

"Look, uh..let's get off the street…" Sakura barely heard her, though she was dimly aware of the other girl prying her arms off. "Come with me." She nodded, sniffling, and let the blonde girl lead her by the arm.

Some time later—Sakura wasn't sure, as the trip had mostly been a watery blur to her—she found herself in the backroom of the flower shop owned by Ino's family. It had always seemed odd to her that such a well known, and wealthy, shinobi clan like the Yamanaka's would spend their time running such a modest, though popular, flower shop. She looked up from the steaming cup of tea on the table before her and swept her gaze over the flowers lining shelves and counter tops around the room—red roses and yellow daisies and a blue flower she had never learned the name of. Gardening tools lay arranged on a work table to her left, along with more flowers, and a watering can sat next to her foot next to the stacks of paper which had once occupied the table. She breathed in the scents of life and beauty, turning her tear soaked face to the light streaming in through the large windows. It had been a long time since she had been here and, though she couldn't quite bring herself to smile, at least she felt a little bit more at peace.

An awkward peace, she reminded herself as Ino entered from the storefront with another chair, which she set across from Sakura and sat down.

"All right, tell me everything," she said, leaning her elbows on the table, blue eyes staring intently into Sakura's.

"Sasuke's betrothed," Sakura said, glancing back down into her still full cup, swirling it gently.

"Yeah, you already said that. Start from when you first met her; tell me what she's like."

So Sakura did. She told her about how Yumiko's eyes seemed to look straight through her; how she seemed to excel at every are of being a kunoichi. When she got to how Yumiko had treated Sasuke during their tree climbing training, the blonde shook her head.

"I can't believe I lost to such…" she trailed off into muttering, rocking her chair back and forth as she crossed and uncrossed her arms. She tugged at her blonde ponytail at one point and scowled. "Continue," she demanded.

Surprisingly, Ino's anger wasn't limited to Yumiko alone.

"So wait, Sasuke-kun actually _carried_ you back?" Ino all but squealed.

"Well, he didn't really _carry _me—"

"How can he be so cruel?" Ino said, slapping her hand on the table. "Doesn't he have any respect for a girl's feelings?"

"It's really no big deal," Sakura said with a forced smile as she sipped at her tea. Sakura continued on before the blonde had a chance to continue her rant.

"So, what," Ino said, slamming both hands down on the table and rising out of her seat a little bit as Sakura finished telling her about her and Yumiko's "conversation". "She would've just let the kid die?"

"She said it wasn't our job to protect Tazuna's family; Tazuna was the priority."

"That's just so...cold!" Ino smacked one hand into her fist. "Sasuke-kun definitely deserves better than this no good floozy!" She turned a narrow gaze to Sakura's face, making the pink haired girl flinch slightly at the intensity.

"And did she do that?" Ino asked quietly, gesturing to Sakura's face.

"Its…not that bad.." Sakura whispered, starting to bow her head. Ino reached over the table and pushed her hand against Sakura's hitai-ite, forcing her head up.

"None of that," she scolded, making Sakura's mouth drop open a little bit. Ino pushed the hitai-ite back up into her hair.

"There," she said, dropping back down into her seat. "I spent a lot of time getting you not to cover your forehead—and I'm not about to let _you_ let _her_ ruin all of _my_ good work."

"Ino…" Sakura said, mouth working open and closed a couple times. It felt weird to say the name without the "pig" insult attached to it after all this time. But it also felt right. "Thank you."

Ino's mouth opened and closed a couple times before she nodded. They sat in silence for awhile, broken only by the faint sounds of customers buying flowers on the other side of the door and the much louder sound of Ino's fingers drumming on the tabletop.

"So…" the blonde said after awhile.

"So…" Sakura agreed with a slight nod of her head.

"You know, its funny," Ino said after another moment.

"Hmm?" Sakura took a sip of tea.

"I always expected to feel…well, a lot worse, if Sasuke-kun ended up with someone else, you know?"

"I guess," Sakura said. She didn't know at all, of course. Ino frowned, cocking her head slightly to the side as she studied Sakura. The pink haired girl fidgeted under that gaze.

"I got it," she said, the suddenness of it startling Sakura so that she almost spilled her tea.

"Got what?"

"A way to get your moxy back, of course. You're obviously in need of my skills again," Ino said with a grin.

"What are you talking about?"

Ino stood, walking around to Sakura's side.

"What you need is a new style—a new flair. One that'll let that two-bit hussy know that you're twice the kunoichi she'll ever be."

"But—"

"No buts," Ino scolded, and Sakura felt like they were just little kids again, and Ino had just asked her—made her—play with her and her friends. "Trust me, I know exactly what to do."

Some time later, Sakura looked in the hand held mirror in shock as she felt at the ends of her freshly cut hair. It didn't even reach her shoulders.

"Ino-pig!" she hollered, looking up at the grinning blonde. "That was too much!"

"Hey, you could've told me stop any time, forehead!" Ino yelled back.

"I did! Several times!"

"Those were the cries of someone blatantly ignorant of fashion," Ino said with a shrug.

"But Sasuke-kun-!" Sakura caught herself and frowned back into the mirror. It had been so long that she hadn't thought about it, but the reason she had grown her hair so long in the first place was because she had heard a rumor that Sasuke like long hair. The fact that Ino had started growing hers out had sealed the deal in Sakura's mind. She fingered her new hair again. It hadn't been the only thing she had done hoping to catch Sasuke's eye, of course. Everything she'd ever done as a shinobi had been in hopes of one day beating Ino in the contest of Sasuke's affections.

"I guess it really doesn't matter what Sasuke-ku—Sasuke likes anymore, does it," she said, glancing at Ino.

"Guess not," Ino agreed.

"So it's your turn now, right?"

"As if!" Ino said with a mischievous grin. "From what you tell me Sasuke's not all that happy with the arrangement—and you might be too good to be the 'other woman', but I think I might just give it a go."

"You're such a pig, Ino!" Sakura yelled, leaping to her feet.

"Don't you mean, 'Thank you so much, Ino'" Ino said, trying to imitate Sakura's voice. "'You're so smart and talented and—'"

"Full of yourself!" Sakura chimed in. "And how does cutting my hair make me a better shinobi!"

"Look, I gave you the new look—you've got to come up with the attitude!" Ino hollered back, shaking her fist. "I can't do everything for you!"

"I'll show you attitude!"

For the first time in a long time, the two smiled with each other—not where the other one could see, of course.

:

:

Haku smoothed the green kimono he wore beneath his plain brown traveling cloak for what must have been the tenth—or was it eleventh?—time in the past five minutes. He'd lost count of how many times it had been since the start of their journey. If Zabuza could see him now…Haku gave a shake of his long free-flowing black hair. Zabuza couldn't see him now—on this mission he was on his own. Haku tried not to think about the gnawing sensation in the pit of his stomach. He smoothed his kimono for the eleventh—or twelfth—time.

"We're here," a voice said, reminding Haku that, technically, he wasn't alone. Haku smoothed his kimono again as he looked up, forcing a smile on his face and cocking his head to the side.

"Oh? That didn't take as long as I thought." The walls of Konoha rose before them among the great trees whose leaves shaded the mighty village, it's great gates welcoming. "It must be nice to see your home again, Kiyoshi-san."

The boy standing to his right was silent, his face forward as if he could actually see the Village Hidden in the Leaves through the black bandanna tied around his eyes, its long tails brushing his own cloak.

"Home…" the other boy echoed softly and, without another word, started forward. Haku frowned slightly after him and smoothed his kimono again.

"Sometimes the past is best left alone," a soft voice said. Two red dots adorned the pale forehead of the boy next to him, framed by white hair partially tied into two braids that brushed his shoulders. An arm clad in a billowy, faded blue sleeve slipped out of his cloak to cover a cough as Kimimaro glanced at Haku with startling green eyes. He gave a slight nod and followed after their brown haired companion. Haku looked after them for a moment, thinking about how, in another life, perhaps none of them would've met. Then he gave his head another shake and followed. He had a mission to complete here; he needed to stay focused. His hands picked at the kimono again.


End file.
